Egypt hopes its Mediterranean coast can attract millions of foreign tourists each year after the government agreed a huge development deal with the United Arab Emirates.
The northern coastline stretching west of Alexandria toward the Libyan border is already dotted with villas and chalets, many of them used as summer retreats by wealthy Egyptians looking to escape the stifling heat of Cairo.
But “it has not received its fair share of international tourism” due to a lack of hotels, Tourism Minister Ahmed Issa said in an interview. There are just 4,174 licensed rooms there, compared with about 87,000 at resorts on Egypt’s eastern Red Sea coast, according to the government.
ADQ invests in Ras El-Hekma
Ras El-Hekma, a Mediterranean peninsula three times the size of Manhattan and where UAE wealth fund ADQ said it would invest billions of dollars, is a…