Hurghada
was once just a tiny fisher village, with a location
that seldom brought strangers here. Even in late
1970's this was the situation, but with the nature
around, the clarity of the water, and the endless
opportunities for divers, Hurghada was destined to
become an Egyptian centre for pleasure tourism.
Today, the result is a stretch of 20 km with beach
hotels. Most of these hotels are organized in an
attractive way, but far from the true Egypt of great
monuments, traffic jams and mud brick houses.
But this makes Hurghada a successful tourist resort
for divers and swimmers. Huge crowds of Egyptians,
Saudis and other Arabs have since long joined the
stream of Europeans and Americans coming here
throughout most of the year.
There are a couple of drawbacks, though. Non-hotel
beaches are not terribly great, but often crowded.
While the fish life is just what you hoped for right
off the beach, there are no corals here anymore.
This can only be discovered by joining one of the
many boat expeditions out to the nearby islands.
Giftun is the largest, and lies about 10 km from
Hurghada.
Hurghada is in reality three main centres and
numerous self-contained tourist villages now growing
into one body. To the north, lies the place that is
closest to being a town, Ad-Dahar, which has more
than half of the total local population, and the the
most price worthy hotels and restaurants. A couple
of kilometres south, comes Sigala, a place that
suffers from being between Ad-Dahar and New Hurghada
a few kilometres more to the south. There are some
hotels here, some restaurants, but relatively few
tourists. In New Hughada total tourism comes alive,
offering every amenity a visitor is looking for.
Dahar is the nearest Hurghada comes its origins, a
few streets are really containing pre-tourist
lifestyles. Dahar is also the place with the most
dubious charm, and it lacks the continuity that most
visitors look for. Large open spaces are not
gardens, just holes of development.
To those who imagine that the holes will soon be
filled, that the unfinished houses and blocks are
just months away from their inauguration, it must be
said that most projects were begun in the middle of
the 1990's. Hurghada suffers from reduction in
tourism, and struggles to fill its present capacity.
Especially the quarters a bit off the tourist scene
illustrate this. The areas near the beach to the
north has a spooky, empty feeling.
Sigala is kind of the place where Hurghada comes
alive, and it is clearly the most chic place around
here, even if it is far behind what El Gouna and
Sharm el-Sheikh has on offer.
Sigala downtown is a dense collection of hotels,
restaurants and tourist shops.
The beaches of Sigala are largely sealed off by
hotels, but getting in should usually be possible.
Many hotels allow visitors for a fee.
Boat trips out to the coral reefs and islands like
the Giftun, are commonly sold all over Hurghada.
Thanks to the condition of the corals along the
beaches, this seems to be the only way to see
colourful corals. You know, like what we see in the
nature shows.
What a disappointment! Can I put in more exclamation
marks? The corals remaining out here are so
run-down, that there is virtually nothing to see.
The whole snorkelling-Hurghada-coral thing is as sad
as a drug addict. Just a few reefs are still fine.
And local authorities and the people in the tourism
industry are to blame. Strict regulations as to what
to do and not do would have saved a lot. It could
have been a great thing, you can see water bottles
and cigarette packs even when they are 10 metres
down.
And you cannot access the islands, they are
protected. I wonder why, they are mainly barren
rocks which will kill your sandals.
Dahar has a colourful, and quite attractive, range
of tourist stalls. Yet, this is not the place to buy
your souvenirs, not at least before you have been to
Sigala.
At Sigala, competition has brought prices down to a
good level in Sigala, which means anything between
10% and 50% of Dahar's prices! From my own travels
around Egypt, Sigala seems to be the only tourist
trap with a price level on its souvenirs in the same
range as Cairo's Khan el-Khalili.
A few of the shops have fixed prices, great for all
those with fear of being ripped off (and all first
time visitors to Egypt should be afraid of that).
So do you get local souvenirs, things made by local
bedouins? There may be an item or two around, but
95% of everything here is made at factories
elsewhere around the whole country. A few of the
specialized shops sell things which are imported
from countries as far away as Morocco. If you ask
about origins, most shopkeepers will tell you the
truth about the origins.
Despite years of tourism to Hurghada, many quarters
are poor and living conditions as bad as they seem.
Much of the tourism industry here is run by people
from other places in Egypt with longer tourism
history, especially Luxor. Also, wages here are not
great, there is a reason why Hurghada is cheap!
Just a few places, some of the older charm still
comes alive, like on the top photo. The place to
look is northwest of the Anfish Mountain. People
here are friendly, too, although many will run into
their houses when a foreigner walks by. Strange,
just 100 metres away, tourism runs at full speed. |
