The government must support the Nuweiba-Taba area in light of the damage suffered during recent flooding, said Sami Soliman, President of the Investors' Cooperative in Nuweiba, Taba. He added that the floods that occurred destroyed hotel and road infrastructure. The total hotel capacity of the region amounts to approximately 10,000 rooms currently in operation, and investments in projects under construction exceed EGP 12bn. According to Soliman, the floods that hit at the beginning of this month negatively impacted the airport, roads, and hotel occupancy, which currently does not exceed 15%, whereas in the Jordanian cities of Aqaba and Eilat, occupancy exceeds 80%. The president of the cooperative feels that the lack of proper infrastructure planning and dams to tap water in Wadi Watir allowed facilities to be destroyed and water to be misplaced into the Gulf of Aqaba in an area that suffers from a severe shortage of freshwater. Hany Hany Gawesh, a member of the Investors' Cooperative in Nuweiba, Taba, said that floods destroyed parts of the Taba Heights, Swiss Inn, and Taba Sands resorts. "These hotels' losses exceeded EGP 800m, most of which was incurred by Taba Heights and Sands, which was completely destroyed as it was located in the flood's path," Gawesh added. Rasha Al-Azazy, media adviser to the Minister of Tourism, said in a brief statement: "We will work to support the area by communicating with other government agencies." The Minister of Tourism was supposed to visit the region last Friday, but he sent the President of the Tourism Activation Authority Nasser Hamdy. Gawesh stated: "He visited the Governor of South Sinai Khaled Fouda and asked officials to restore the roads recently destroyed by the flood." Soliman requested that an airport be established to welcome domestic flights in the Nuweiba region and limit the Taba airport to military use. Gawesh disagrees with Soliman and views the establishment of an airport between the cities of Nuweiba and Dahab to be preferable; it will be located far from flood paths and hotel infrastructure in the area will serve passenger traffic at the airport in Dahab, Nuweiba, and the close-by Saint Catherine. He stated that occupancy in the city of Nuweiba is less than 10% of capacity and that hotels charge less than $18 per night for foreigners and EGP 125 for Egyptians. Egyptian tourism income throughout the first quarter of this year has declined to $1.3bn, representing a decrease of 43%, according to the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. Gawesh said: "The government must support the region, whether it be through building infrastructure, granting projects tax breaks or concessions in paying installments owed to banks in light of the crises experienced throughout the past three years."
