Egypt has allocated EGP 950 million (USD 136 million) for tourism projects this year, tourism minister Hisham Zazou said in an interview with Zawya.
The ministry plans to spend EGP 450 million on the construction of a new corniche in the Mediterranean seaport of Mersa Matruh in northern Egypt, a major tourist resort. The addition of the corniche, which will extend from Cleopatra Beach to White Beach, will help pave the way for additional investments of about EGP 5 billion to develop touristic villages along the coast, Zazou said.
He said the corniche project, which would take five months to complete, was expected to create more than 20,000 job opportunities. The project is scheduled to be completed before the end of September.
The ministry official said around EGP 300 million has been allocated to construct a road connecting the ruins of Philoxenite to the Zaranik Protected Area on the Mediterranean coast of Sinai.
The ministry has also earmarked EGP 200 million for a project to upgrade the road to the Abu Simbel temples in Luxor, which is expected to be completed in July.
"The projects will be financed by the ministry and will be overseen by local administrations in each governorate," Zazou said. "The investment ministry approved the allocations to support tourism and improve services and efficiency in touristic cities."
The ministry is providing financial and logistical support to small projects for youths in touristic areas, he said, in addition to offering incentive packages to German, Russian, Spanish, Indian and Chinese tourism agencies, which are expected to help attract 250,000 travelers by the end of summer.
© Zawya 2014
