São Paulo – The Egyptian minister of Tourism, Hisham Zazou, announced that his country intends to auction 28 million square metres of land for the construction of tourism enterprises. The information was released last Wednesday (31st) on the website of Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV.
The process should start in November this year and is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. According to the minister, tracts of land will be auctioned in the localities of Nabq, Marsa Alam, El Ain El Sokhna and Sharm El-Sheikh.
The auction will have three phases. The first two will offer nine million square metres of land each, and a third one will auction ten million. The Egyptian government intends for entertainment centre and medical treatment for tourists to be built in the auctioned plots.
According to Zazou, investors from Italy, Germany, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait have expressed interest in the lands. According to Al Jazeera, Zazou is working to revitalize tourism in Egypt. The industry used to account for 10% of the country’s economic activity prior to the popular uprising which overthrew the then-president Hosni Mubarak, in early 2011.
The minister informed that by the end of the year, Egypt expects to receive 12 million tourists, generating US$ 10 billion in revenues. In 2013, the intention is to attract 15 million tourists and earn US$ 12.5 billion in revenues, if the political scenario is favourable.
According to previous statements from Zazou, Egypt posted US$ 6.9 billion in tourism revenues in the first nine months of 2012, up 19% from the same period in 2011.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
