Al-Ahram Weekly 17 - 23 June 1999 Issue No. 434
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875

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Planning for yachting tourism

By Rehab Saad

Although Egypt has about 2,500km of shoreline and sports tourism has been actively and successfully promoted in recent years, there is not a single adequate marina anywhere in the country for yachts. Even should a traveller sail from Australia to Europe via Egypt there is nowhere he or she can stop on any of our shores for maintenance and repair of his vessel, supplies or even a break.

The government -- represented in the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourist Development Authority (TDA) -- along with businessmen interested in promoting tourism in Egypt, have been aware of the problem for some time. They have realised the need to establish marinas and at long last are giving serious attention to the matter.

"We plan to establish marinas on the Red Sea shores as well as the Gulf of Aqaba," said Adel Radi, head of the TDA. Plans are going ahead to establish eight marinas in those two areas, notably at Al-Gouna, Abu Soma, Ras Ghareb, Al-Homayyera, Mahashi Al-Ala, Al-Montazah and Marsa Gabal Al-Rossas.

"Ideally, these marinas will be part of large recreational facilities providing a range of tourist services," Radi said. "Smaller marinas are also planned in other areas."

A symposium was held recently by the TDA to discuss the best means to establish marinas in the context of Egypt's ambitious tourist plans and the laws regulating environmental control. Some pertinent issues were raised. These included discussions on what the word 'marina' actually meant, the best locations to establish them, the studies to be carried out prior to their construction, if they are economically and environmentally sound and what services should be provided.

Lectures were given by university professors, engineers, officials of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and representatives of the tourist industry. All were in agreement on the importance of this new business to Egypt.

"The marina is like an airport. In an airport there are aircraft that come and go and there are certain services that are offered to them such as maintenance and repairing facilities," said Magda Sami, coordinator of the Environmental Policies Unit (EPU) affiliated to the TDA. "Moreover, there are many facilities for passengers like cafeterias, shops and restaurants. This is exactly what a marina should offer. It is an airport on the sea."

This observation is sound. A marina should be an independent tourist area that should offer a number of services. As a recreational site, it would automatically create tourist-related activities around it. "Before we take the first steps in building marinas, we have to establish the base for the new product," Sami said. "If we succeed we will attract quality travellers from all over the world and promote yachting tourism in Egypt as a major tourist product."

The choice of a suitable location for a marina is vitally important and not as easy as might be imagined. Preliminary studies, surveys and research by specialists and engineers are imperative. In addition, environmentalists should have their say about the suitability of any proposed location.

Sailors and boating enthusiasts from all over the world make their way to Egypt for the beautiful waters of the Sinai coastline. This area also offers an important seaway link between the northern and southern hemispheres. For both reasons, people are considering the idea of building high quality, functional marinas within the region

Randa Hassan, a professor at Cairo University, said, "There are studies that must be carried out at potentially suitable sites. Geographic surveys must be carried out on land as well as marine surveys offshore to know whether there are coral reefs or rare species of fish whose habitat should not be violated. Then there is the question of deciding on the kind of marina that is most suitable, whether it should be fixed, floating or a combination of both."

According to Ahmed Abul-Azem of the EEAA, the environment is the number one criterion in selecting a location for a marina. "The marine life should be preserved and the underwater environment strictly protected. If there is any choice of place, it should be far from coral or unique fish species," he said.

But according to marine specialists, a marina should also be part and parcel of the tourist resort. Its position should not be decided when the resort is nearing completion. It should be decided upon from the beginning.

"Sometimes investors start to build their tourist establishment like a hotel or resort, then think at the last minute of building a marina," said Fouad Khouri, consultant of Logix Egypt, a company which specialises in building marinas all over the world. "Investors spend millions of pounds on building concrete structures and they ignore the sea. This is ridiculous," he said. "The marina should be designed within the framework of the hotel or tourist village. It should be part of a comprehensive study."

Khouri explained that the study "must include a survey of the bottom of the sea, a study of the sewage system and electricity. Maintenance facilities should be provided as well as specialised workshops for repairing boats. Moreover, equipment for combating fire must be available. There should be stand-by boats in case of emergency."

Khouri added that if a boat or yacht is not being used for an extended period of time, it has to be lifted and placed in a dry dock. "We should have this facility in our marinas. We have to make sure also that all the boats using the marina have official licences and there should be an office on land that can easily communicate with the boats at sea," Khouri said.

There is little doubt that if all these ideas were put into effect, then Egypt could establish unique marinas on its Red Sea shores and in the Gulf of Aqaba. "In establishing marinas of international standards, we will be adding a new and important tourist element. We can lure many more tourists to Egypt," Khouri said.

A large number of Gulf Arabs have yachts that take them to various destinations in Europe. Once they have access to marinas on the Red Sea for yacht repairs or maintenance there is little doubt that they would benefit from the service.

Several officials at the symposium said that the best way to ensure that this new kind of business would flourish would be to establish central marinas. That is to say, a complex of marinas in one place rather than small marinas scattered in various locations. "The advantage of a central marina is that it allows a large number of boats to use it simultaneously," said Hani Farid, president of Qantium engineering, another marina-building company. "It would ensure that comprehensive studies could be carried out for just one place and not for dozens of different areas," he said. "It would also be easy to provide one place with all appropriate services rather than provide them to several. A central marina would also help ensure that nature would be preserved because all the boats would be centralised."

The number of officials in favour of a central marina augers well for its implementation. It would certainly be easier to maintain international standards in one area than in many and to enforce environmental laws, which were the main concerns of all the participants at the symposium.

Taking Sami's analogy of marinas to airports one step further, Egypt should start with the equivalent of Cairo International Airport before establishing small airfields across the country.

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