Ain Al-Sukhna was always a destination for domestic tourism. Now it is time to turn it into a resort attracting tourists seeking therapeutic treatments, writes Rehab Saad "That exquisite corridor of tinted mountains and radiant waters. Here and nowhere else is the vestibule between the Levant and the tropics." Thus E M Forster described the Gulf of Suez in 1923. It was his description that lured thousands of Egyptians and foreigner expatriates to spend their holidays, mainly weekend breaks, in Ain Al-Sukhna, the most famous and the most developed of the Gulf's resorts. Nestling between the azure seas to the east and jagged mountains and windswept desert to the west, one of the main attractions of Al-Sukhna is that it is the closest beach to Cairo, only 130km away; it's even called Cairo's beach. The second attraction is the sulphur spring from which the area takes its name. In the 1960s the government established the first hotel in Al-Sukhna in the area near the spring. The hotel is now closed and the area around it is left undeveloped. This week, the Suez governorate that owns the area including the spring and the Holding Company for Tourism, Hotels and Cinema (HOTAC) that owns the land overlooking the sea and the Ain Al-Sukhna Hotel decided to sell the land to promote the creation of a first class tourist resort specialised in therapeutic treatments that depend on the sulphur springs. Nine companies competed to buy HOTAC's 112 feddans (466,000 square metres) and to have the right to use the Suez governorate's 58 feddans (243,000 square metres). Al-Sukhna Resorts Company, which consists of investors of the 10th of Ramadan as well as Faisal Islamic Bank and a group of Italian investors, won the auction with its bid of LE801 million in addition to LE21 million to be paid annually to the Suez governorate for the right of use of its 58 feddans with a five per cent increase every 10 years. According to Major-General Seifeddin Galal, governor of Suez, this part of the land cannot be sold because it includes the sulphur spring. By law, sources of natural wealth cannot be sold and investors are only given a right of use in these places. "The winning company will have this right of use for 75 years and then the land and all the facilities on it will revert to the governorate," he said. The auction went 68 rounds and attracted Egyptians, Kuwaitis, Emiratis, Italians and Spanish. "Nine companies is an unprecedented number for Ain Al-Sukhna and they were all very serious," said Ali Abdel-Aziz, chairman of HOTAC. He added that the Al-Sukhna Resorts Company will pay LE822 million in cash. "Work will start in a month time and is expected to be completed in three years," he said. According to Abdel-Aziz, the new project is a therapeutic tourism project that will depend entirely on the sulphur springs that are said to have a healing power for skin diseases as well as rheumatism. The project is bordered by the SOMID oil company from the north, the Gulf of Suez from the east, Portrait Hotel from the south and the Suez-Sukhna road from the west. "There are natural hot springs in this area which produce about 12,000 cubic metres of water daily. A technical geological study was made to determine the source of water and its course with the help of the Egyptian General Authority for Geological Surveys which tested the water in cooperation with the British Crystal Company and the Greek Puretic Company. Tests revealed that the water of the springs could be used in therapeutic centres and that it is an important natural wealth that could be used in establishing a centre for leisure as well as medical tourism," Abdel-Aziz said. Architect of the Al-Sukhna Resort project, Yasser Assem, explained that the project consists of a five- star deluxe 450-room hotel, a spa that will be built on an island in the middle of an artificial lake, four residential zones, all include apartment hotels, villas and swimming pools connected directly to the springs. It also includes marinas, restaurants, and a shopping mall. Samir Aref, representative of the investors, said the hotel will be managed by a major international chain. "This land was completely deserted. Two years ago I met with Ali Abdel-Aziz, chairman of HOTAC, and we both discussed the idea of making use of that land. The whole land, ours and theirs, should be developed together for one reason; namely, our land has the sulphur springs and their land has the sea," said the Suez governor. Part of the revenue of the Ain Al-Sukhna sale will go to the development of hotels owned by the state Egyptian General Company for Tourism and Hotels (EGOTH), affiliated to HOTAC, and to the development of sound and light projects, studios and cinemas. "We intend to build a hotel in Sohag and establish a sound and light project in Abydos. The government will use the revenue to pay for different projects including sewage and the development of roads especially in Upper Egypt," Abdel-Aziz said.
