Jailan Halawi looks back at how the southern part of the peninsula evolved into a thriving tourist hub attracting millions of visitors a year When, 26 years ago tomorrow, President Hosni Mubarak raised the Egyptian flag in Sharm El-Sheikh it signalled the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egyptian sovereignty. Israel occupied Sinai in 1967, and though it agreed to withdraw from the peninsula as part of the peace treaty with Egypt signed by president Anwar El-Sadat in 1979 negotiations over the southern part of the peninsula lingered on until after Sadat's assassination in 1981. Thus it was that President Mubarak presided over the celebrations of 25 April 1982, a date now commemorated annually as Sinai Liberation Day. Sharm El-Sheikh, dubbed by Egyptians as the City of Peace, is the capital and gateway of the governorate of South Sinai. It is the area's pre-eminent resort town, holding sway over nearby destinations such as Dahab, Ras Shitan and Taba. Indeed, such is the pace of development in Sharm that even long-term residents of the town sometimes find it difficult to keep up. Three years ago the town was the site of a horrific triple bombing, an event that left residents and workers in the town reeling from shock. Yet the indominatable spirit of the place soon took over. Officials, investors, the town's inhabitants and guest workers rallied, joining forces to ensure that hope would rise above the rubble and the city emerge from the disaster stronger than ever. Such cowardly attacks, it was said time and time again in the immediate aftermath of the bombings, would not be allowed to prevent the city of peace from flourishing again. And they haven't. When Al-Ahram Weekly revisited the city this month it was clearly enjoying a boom, attracting entrepreneurs keen to make a new life and start successful businesses in the resort town. Sharm El-Sheikh has recaptured all its famed vivacity. The town was bustling with visitors, with new developments everywhere, some recently opened, others on the cusp of completion. New hotels have been built and shopping malls constructed, leading to the impression that whatever you might want you will almost certainly find. If its sun, sea and sand you are after, then it is to be found on your doorstep, with plenty of space in which to chill. Or perhaps the indulgence of a five-star hotel is more your thing. Well there are plenty to choose from. Add to this the magnificent water sports, including some of the best dive sites in the world, a diversity of entertainment, from quiet cafés to upbeat nightclubs, safaris into the silent vastness of the nearby desert and mountains, and Sharm El-Sheikh offers something for everyone. The city boasts a wide-range of accommodation, from small, intimate boutique hotels to resort complexes belonging to some of the best known names in the international hotel business. There are casinos and golf courses, discos and nightclubs. "With diving and snorkelling, windsurfing and other water sports, horses and camel-back riding, desert safaris, animation teams in five-star hotels keeping us entertained all the time, beside nearby antiquities, it is impossible for anyone to feel bored," one visitor told the Weekly. Such diversity has its own pitfalls. In pleasing most of the people most of the time it is almost inevitable that somebody will be left feeling disgruntled. There are some who lament the development of Neama Bay, the nucleus from which the present town grew. The area's first hotels opened on the bay: it began in the 1980s with just one hotel and a long beach open to all comers. Now there are shopping malls, fast food chains, and the area is home to some of the resort's most popular nightspots, including Little Buddha, Le Pacha, the Camel English Bar and the Hard Rock Café. Neama also has a long line of Bedouin-styled cafés that compete with one another by raising the volume of music in a bid to attract yet more visitors to dance the night away. There are those who prefer to give the area a wide berth, preferring the quieter atmosphere of Hadabit Um Al-Sid, Shark Bay and Nabq. "I have visited Sharm at least once a year since the 1990s. I love to go snorkelling and diving and enjoy the many activities offered by the hotel's animation team. But I no longer go to Neama. I'm not a party animal or a night creature and it's just too loud for me. Yet Sharm is still the best place I've found simply to relax. I can just chill out if I want, do water sports and if I feel like it take a desert safari and spend a night in the mountains," says 41-year-old banker Ahmed Farouk. Ahmed and Mustafa Magdi, 16- and 17- year-old brothers who are visiting Sharm for the first time, agree with Farouk. They say they have been put off by the "excessively uninhibited behaviour" of some of the locals and tourists at Neama Bay. "There are some places that are loud and crowded, which might not be everyone's cup of tea. But it is important for a resort to cater to a variety of tastes. I find Sharm magically beautiful and it has superb weather all year round. I was impressed by the flourishing real estate business and the level of investment in the town. Sharm deserves its reputation as a city that is booming," says British-Egyptian Mustafa Anwar. Sharm is certainly a real estate hotspot. Only this month a new brochure was released showcasing the town's latest luxury development. The project, say many interviewed by the Weekly, looms set to attract its target customers, and seems to appeal most strongly to people from the UK. "I think the project will attract many Brits. I've seen villas with gardens either overlooking the sea or swimming pool, the prices are affordable, certainly for many Europeans, and will tempt those seeking a return on their property investments. In addition, they get to own a place in a resort where the sun shines year round, and that has excellent transport links from the UK," says Anwar. The Housing and Development Bank set up in Sharm to capitalise on the growth in real estate. Branch manager Magdi Ramzi tells the Weekly the bank started offering its services just a few months after the July 2005 bombings. "We were not deterred. The opposite in fact, we were convinced, and still are, that South Sinai, and Sharm in particular, offers great investment opportunities. We thought the best time to launch the business was following the attacks. We wanted to help both individuals and the city back into the market, which we did. In less than a year we've helped over 50 shops resume or open for business and there is still a long way to go." The bank now has three branches and plans to open in other South Sinai resorts. "But Sharm is no easy place to do business," Ramzi cautions. "It is no place for the weak. You have to be tough and persistent." Whether big or small, the owners of businesses in the town share a common complaint and that is the number of bureaucratic hurdles they face. The experience of Libyan businessman Hani Sufrakis, chairman of the board of Ghibli Raceway, is typical. Although he started his business in 2001 he only received his licence to operate six months ago. Yet Sufrakis retains a special fondness for Sharm despite running businesses worldwide. "The city," he believes, "needs more focussed planning if it is to best utilise its potential." Planning for the kind of growth witnessed in Sharm is not always easy and there are those who believe that in an attempt to boost growth the authorities have inadvertently moved the resort downmarket. As the number of hotel rooms grew, prices were forced down in order to fill them. "The shift in clientele inevitably affected many businesses negatively. We have not let it put us off, though, and try to make the best of what we've got," says Sufrakis. Sharm may not be at the bottom end of the market but many working in the tourist industry complain that in order to secure occupancy rates packages have to be sold at under $300 a room, on an all inclusive basis, flights included -- an attempt that only attracted third-class tourists. This decrease in the calibre of clientele inevitably affected negatively many of the small businesses, "many holidaymakers now spend little if any money beyond the cost of their package," notes Sufrakis, "and this has inevitably impacted on smaller, secondary businesses. Engineer Haitham Fahmi, owner of the Nexus-adventure company for diving recreation and safari, says that in the early days of the resort dive sites were the greatest attraction, responsible for up to 70 per cent of visits. Now he estimates that only 30 per cent of tourists visit Sharm for the quality of its diving, and it is losing business to newer resorts such as Marsa Alam and Port Ghalib. "We need to face up to the challenge of improving our services in order to attract the visitors we have lost. Employees, officials, investors and residents must all cooperate to this end. With cooperation we can all be winners, and the city will be able to maintain the spirit that has seen it flourish." In an attempt to build one thing, we sometimes destroy another inadvertently. The challenge now facing Sharm is to grow while retaining those elements that made the resort a success in the first place. Sharm may no longer be just sand, sun and sea but these remain the basic ingredients on which it depends and the environment needs to be protected from the potential fallout from new developments. The challenges, as Sharm's residents and investors agree, will be met only if all segments of the industry work closely and harmoniously. Additional reporting by Salonaz Sami
