Award-winning Sharm

Now that Sharm El-Sheikh has won a UNESCO award for being the City of Peace in the Middle East, opinions differ on how to make the best use of the city. Dena Rashed investigates
"We say, if the sun doesn't shine during the week you spend in Sharm El-Sheikh we will give you your money back," says the governor of South Sinai, Mustafa Afifi. "But so far that has never happened."
The exceptional weather in Sinai is one reason why Sharm is such an outstanding resort. Another is the stunning marine life which flourishes all along the shore, and is a major attraction for sea lovers from all over. But Sharm El-Sheikh was not declared one of the top five cities for peace in the world for these reasons alone; it was for its role in promoting peace, because it is an area of immense natural beauty, and because of the services it offers.
"What does a tourist search for in deciding where to spend a vacation?" Afifi says. "Some want sunshine, others sports and recreation. Well, here we can offer you all that, and security, too. Sharm is safe, with a zero percentage crime rate. Besides, the infrastructure allows for expansion. Water and electricity are available, and there are plans to further develop the city and its services."
Sharm El-Sheikh already has a wide range of hotels and resorts, some 100 of which are modern constructions with all the necessary facilities. There are plans for more hotels and shopping malls in the near future. The centre of activity is Naama Bay, where there are restaurants to satisfy all tastes, from Egyptian and Lebanese to Chinese, American and Italian, as well as shops and dive centres.
The area has developed rapidly in the last decade but there is still a long way to go, especially now that it is set to compete with the top tourist cities the world over. How does the governorate see the future of Sharm El-Sheikh? Some voices have been heard which are not as happy with the modern look as is the governor.
While, as Afifi told Al-Ahram Weekly, this year will see the opening of another 147 hotels, some of the local inhabitants believe this is where construction and development should stop.
"I can't believe there are more hotels opening up soon," diving instructor Abdel-Nasser Sha'ban told the Weekly. "An increase in the number of tourists might mean higher revenues for the city, but the point is that the growing numbers of snorkellers and divers threaten the environment, especially the coral reefs"
Sha'ban's pessimism about the adverse effects of rapid expansion in the city in the coming five years is shared by divers. They view with dismay the threat to marine life and stress the need to preserve it because, in the end, it is their livelihood. They concede that if more tourists are attracted to the city and enjoy the remarkable wealth of underwater life it will mean more money for them, but those interviewed by the Weekly felt numbers should be limited and that a moratorium should be placed on further expansion.
"The city was much more beautiful when it was simple and less crowded," master diver Ahmed Mansour says. He has been in Sharm El-Sheikh since 1992, before the era of large-scale development, and says it was then that the city was at its best. "The beauty of Sharm and its distinctive environment is what we have to preserve," he emphasised. "We should have kept the old style of small hut, where people came to enjoy the simple desert life in a sound ecological environment far removed from life in the city.
"High-quality diving should mean that I guide a limited number of tourists and thus assure them prime time, such that they would wish to come back to dive in Egypt again. As it is, with the growing number of tourists, one is expected to guide larger groups and they are not given the same quality experience."
Sha'ban was one of those who came to Sharm El-Sheikh to sound out a new place to live. Today he misses what he calls "the old, simple town."
Sha'ban's opinion is shared by Anna, a tourist from Finland. "I really like the time I spend here in Sharm El-Sheikh," she said. "But with all those international chain restaurants opening in the town, I feel the place, especially at night, is getting to have the aura of any other European city."
Of course, whether you feel nostalgia for the old Sharm or share in the flavour of the new depends to a large extent on where you are placed. Many of those who work for a living in Sharm El-Sheikh favour further expansion and development. Albert Radi's income depends on his shop in one of the newly-established malls in the town centre, and he is open to more expansion. He has been working in the town for five years, and has rented his shop for two years. "Tourist expansion would enable me to keep up with my rent and make a living here," he said.
But others say that making money is not the purpose of Sharm, which as an award-winning city should be committed to preserving the very thing that makes it special: its environment.
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