CAIRO – My visits to Marsa Alam have refreshed my memory of the Red Sea resort of Hurghada in the 1980s, when the private sector started participating for the first time in tourist development projects in the area. Before then, tourist projects in Hurghada were limited to two public enterprise hotels: the Hurghada Sheraton Hotel and Magawish Village. I remember tourist investor Mohamadi Howaidak, who launched the first tourist village, Al-Giftun, in Hurghada. Charter flights arriving from Germany in the mid-1980s also changed the aspects of life in this Red Sea resort. I also recall the pioneers of major tourist development projects in Hurghada. They include the city's former Governor General. Youssef Afifi, who offered plots of land to investors and private sector companies, enticing them to come forward and contribute to achieving his tourist development ambitions for the town. The Tourist Development Authority also deserves credit for expanding tourist projects in the environs of Hurghada towards the Gulf of Aqaba. Developing Marsa Alam However, Marsa Alam was more fortunate than Hurghada in this respect. For example, tourist projects in Marsa Alam were more wisely planned, notably including Port Ghalib, which has become a landmark in the area, especially after the construction of an airport. Marsa Alam Airport was the first such facility to be built by the private sector in Egypt. EgyptAir should also be acknowledged for its initial policy of operating unprofitable flights to Marsa Alam. In appreciation of EgyptAir's initiative, certain investors and Al-Kharafi Group (the owner of Marsa Alam airport) contributed to the cost of flights until these flights became profitable. However, the rising costs of flights to Marsa Alam has had a negative impact on the decision of middle-class Egyptian families, the backbone of domestic tourism, to spend their holiday in this particular area. Model tourist project Port Ghalib, an outstanding development in Marsa Alam, was established by Al-Kharafi Group under the chairmanship of the late Nasser el-Khourafi. Since the foundation stone of this great project was laid, Al-Khourafi Group has spent $2 billion of $10 billion allocated by the late owner to complete this landmark tourist destination. His dreams had encouraged him to build the Mersa Alam Airport and they included the construction of hotels, marinas, golf courts, a yacht club, residential area, shopping centre and services, all of which were fulfilled in six years. I have visited Port Ghalib and Marsa Alam several times, the last occasion of which was made to take part in the first board meeting of the Port Ghalib Tourist Development Authority. Reassuring investors This meeting, which was led by Minister of Tourism Mounir Fakhri Abdel Nour, was planned to send a reassuring message to serious investors that the Egyptian Government would lend them undivided support in increasing their contribution to major tourist development projects in the country. Abdel Nour also confirmed to investors that his ministry was ready to help them resolve problems hindering the fulfilment of their ambitions. Abdel Nour first honoured his pledge when he successfully negotiated a dispute over plots of land, which had been withdrawn from investors, who were the victims of post-revolution economic problems in society. Misunderstandings over land prices There are some voices, which are inquiring suspiciously about the reason(s) for selling plots of land (prepared for tourist projects) at $1 per metre. However, they must misunderstand the rationale behind this pricing policy. Investors, who bought their land for this ostensibly cheap price, would have to spend a huge sum of money on the construction of the basic infrastructure, such as power, electricity and water supply, road constructions, landscaping. Investors, who benefited from buying this land for $1 per metre, also have to build water desalination stations, power stations, networks of landline telephones and sanitary systems. These costs are so high that the de facto price of the land would increase to hundreds or thousands of US dollars per metre at the end of the day. Without such a sagacious policy of tourist development and associated land prices, tourist projects would have become very rare; nor would the tourist industry have poured $13.7 billion into the national income and provided millions of jobs. About 12.6 per cent of the nation's workforce are now employed in the tourism industry. Egypt not the exception Concerning the nominal price of land prepared for tourist projects; Egypt is not exceptional in this respect. Furthermore, some countries are offering land free to investors willing to launch new projects and provide jobs in the domestic labour market. For example, investors in Tunisia buy land allocated to tourism for $7 per metre; and the Tunisian authorities bear the total cost of the construction of basic infrastructure, including the electricity and water supply, etc. Moreover, the Tunisian government subsidises bank interest on loans obtained by investors to construct tourist projects. Investors' contribution to Egypt Unlike their colleagues in Egypt, investors in Tunisia are fortunate and warmly welcomed. It is unfortunate that investors in Egypt have been regarded with suspicion and malevolence, regardless of their contribution to expanding the basic infrastructure throughout the country, reducing unemployment and remarkably replenishing the national income remarkably. It has been estimated that by successfully persuading one million tourists to spend their holiday in Egypt, 200, 000 young people, whether university graduates or otherwise, immediately obtain jobs. It is acceptable that the new economic and social circumstances in Egypt should prompt the authorities to reconsider land prices in tourist areas. But the new price should not be discouraging to investors and private sector companies. The meeting of the Board of the Tourism Development Authority was attended by: General Moustafa el-Sayed, Governor of Aswan; General Khaled Fouda, Governor of South Sinai and Mahmoud Assem, Governor of the Red Sea. Also attending the meeting were Hisham Zazou, first assistant to the Minister of Tourism; General Tareq Saad-Eddin, chairman of the Executive Agency of the Tourism Development Authority, Seraj Saad, the executive agency's vice-chairman, Hussein Abu-Sedaa, and Moustafa Madbouli.
