The Sinai Peninsula is a major tourist attraction, generating close to half of the sector's revenues in Egypt. Hit by a spate of terrorist attacks beginning in 2004, the area has since cleared away the rubble and moved from strength to strength. Yet it still, South Sinai Governor Major General Mohamed Hani tells Jailan Halawi in a wide-ranging interview, has masses of as yet unrealised potential How did the governorate handle the resulting crises after the terrorist attacks in Nuweiba in October 2004, in Sharm El-Sheikh, the peninsula's largest resort, in July 2005, and then in Dahab in April 2006? In speaking of the way South Sinai overcame the problems -- the initial fall in the number of tourists has now been replaced by an overall increase in the pre-2006 figures -- one must pay tribute to the reputation Sharm El-Sheikh, in particular, had developed over the years. That reputation to a great extent allowed Sharm El-Sheikh to ride out the events. But it also needed positive action on our part. Whether Egyptian or foreign, people needed to know that the authorities were taking the kind of actions that would successfully pre- empt any future attempts. If you examine the procedures taken in recent years, whether at the governorate level or by the security apparatus, you will find that they have been extremely effective. The governorate has followed a strict plan to both enhance and secure roads in the peninsula. In addition we have worked on upgrading the quality of health services and have comprehensive crisis management plans in place. The security apparatus now monitors tourist sites via CCTV, and security personnel work to ensure the safety of visitors without being visible. There are intensive security check-points at the entrances and exits of all towns and the identities, activities and records of individuals present in the governorate are checked. The outskirts of towns and the mountainous interior of the peninsula are also carefully monitored. Given the increase in visitors to Sinai these are policies that are clearly paying off. What were the biggest challenges that you faced in securing your goals? Perhaps the biggest challenge was altering the perceptions of potential visitors, convincing them that Sinai was safe. We could never have done that simply by beautifying Sharm, for instance. A host of ministries and other agencies needed to work in tandem to allow that to happen. Insisting that the Davos Conference go ahead as planned in Sharm helped; the presence of so many delegates in the town sent a clear message that Sinai is safe. President Hosni Mubarak also instructed that Sharm should become Egypt's conference hub, hosting regional and international events. That was a challenge we successfully faced, lending further weight to the impression that South Sinai was a secure destination. How long did it take for Sharm El-Sheikh to recover from the attacks? Less than a year. The Sharm attacks occurred in July 2005 and we ended that season with 1.6 million tourists. The figure jumped to 2.2 the next year and last year reached 3.4 million. Tourism in Sharm depends mainly on Europeans. Egyptian and Arab visitors to the town account for less than 15 per cent of the total. How has the profile of visitors to the town changed? New markets are constantly being opened up, and there is no denying that Sharm has noticed some major shifts in the people visiting. Tourism, like everything else, is subject to the laws of supply and demand. There was a time when the majority of visitors came from Italy. Now Italian tourists seem to prefer Turkey and Spain. Things change. Today the majority of Sharm's tourists come from Russia, followed by the UK. But it is a dynamic market, and recently we have seen an influx of visitors from Scandinavia. What measures are in place to ensure that the construction development necessary to accommodate growing numbers of visitors is environmentally sound? We are formulating a structural plan that will run until 2022. We are examining the ways in which our resources can best be utilised in terms of infrastructure and given the specifics of climate, environmental issues etc. We must, of course, work closely with the Ministry of Tourism. We need to know how many tourists it is planning to attract, how many tourists Egypt is ready to receive, and how many of them will be visiting us here. I must tailor my own demands to fit in with the ministry's overall strategy. Do your plans involve the elimination of existing buildings? No. We have not said we will remove anything. But dependent on the Ministry of Tourism's own plans we do need to know how many tourists will be visiting Sharm El-Sheikh and their needs, in terms of hosting, entertainment and transport. Say I have to receive 100,000 tourists. I need to know if my resources can accommodate that number. I have to calculate the share each one has of the beach, I need to know the number of hotel rooms they will occupy, and what level of hotel they prefer. Only then can I know how many five-, four- or three-star hotels are necessary. I also need to know how many taxis and buses they will need to commute, how many boats and marinas will be necessary to accommodate divers, and how many shopping malls will have to be provided. There have been complaints that with the increase in demand workers have been employed from the Delta with no experience in dealing with tourists. Tourists speaking to Al-Ahram Weekly report being harassed by taxi drivers and by tourist touts working for local shops. While this happens in all tourist destinations we do need to acknowledge it is an area in which service can be improved. We have not, for instance, increased the number of taxis we license but instead have concentrated on providing better vehicles, air-conditioned and with better safety facilities. Now they park only in designated areas, and are closely monitored. We also examine work permit applications. Not everyone is granted a work permit. They must be qualified for the job. Any report of harassment is immediately dealt with. Recently 10 shops have been penalised for instructing employees to 'hard sell'. Training, though, is the only way to tackle the core problems, and it is at the top of our agenda. Are Sinai's Bedouins integrated in this plan? Local residents are an inseparable component of development. We help all residents of South Sinai with their projects. Some of them work as taxi drivers and/or owners or have their own boats, some work in the safari business, others in handicrafts. They are an essential part of the developmental process. And what problems do they face? They need greater coordination in organising desert safaris, a more coherent market in which to sell their products, and more work opportunities. Jobs in Sharm require certain qualifications that they do not necessarily possess. We do expect the coming generation to be better qualified and more familiar with the demands of the tourism industry. Boat owners complain about the bureaucracy they face in procuring licences while tourists are often unhappy about the time spent waiting just to board boats. Boat licences need the agreement of five administrative bodies. Boat owners used to apply for them early in the day, once they had a full complement of passengers, and this took time. We then said the administrative procedures should be done at night. Any backlog is now due to the failure of some boats to sail on time which then holds back those in line. Do you think Sinai's leasehold system on land tenure scares off potential investors? No. Similar laws apply all over the world. The aim of the law is to protect the heritage of future generations. In the meantime investors know that by the time their leases -- which are long -- expire, they will have secured a healthy return on the initial capital investment. Where do you see South Sinai going? I see it as topping tourist investment league tables. The area has enormous promise and as yet unexplored potential. With the right encouragement it will not only be Egypt's number one tourist attraction, it will provide both employment opportunities and revenues that benefit the whole of Egypt.
