Atef Abdellatif, a member of South Sinai Investors Association, said that the governor of South Sinai Major General Khalid Fouda held a meeting with the board of directors of the association, headed by Hisham Ali to discuss proposals for the development of the city of St. Catherine.
Abdellatif praised in a press release today the response of Fouda to the demands of the association, adding he promised to study the establishment of a complex for religions in St. Catherine to stimulate tourism, and to establish three gates for St. Catherine city as a symbol of peace between the three Abrahamic religions and to put the St. Catherine on the map of religious tourism globally through the promotion of the city at the tourism stock exchanges and exhibitions.
With regard to St. Catherine's airport, Abdellatif said that the governor promised to study the reopening of the airport in coordination with the Ministry of Civil Aviation and airlines.
Abdellatif pointed out that the governor promised to provide the hospital of Marsa Alam with needed facilities to serve tourists, conduct operations, X-rays and so on.
Abdellatif called for the reopening of the Wadi Ferran road after being closed due to security reasons, which affected tourism negatively because the tourist who wants to visit St. Catherine takes 17 hours from Cairo airport, or is forced to use a plane from Cairo Airport to Sharm al-Sheikh Airport, then take a vehicle for four hours to reach St. Catherine City.
Abdellatif criticized the decision of the Environment Ministry to transfer the city of St. Catherine into a nature reserve, which led to preventing any tourist or agricultural activities.
He pointed out that no nature reserve is established on an area of about 4,300 square kilometers in the world, calling for reducing the campus of the nature reserve.
Abdellatif stressed the need to exploit valleys and the vast area of the city in safaris to enjoy the beautiful landscapes and nature there.
Abdellatif stressed as well the need to exploit the city of St. Catherine in medical tourism because of its mild, clean and pure atmosphere as its situated above the sea level and contains rare herbal plants and water springs and wells.
There are only four hotels in St. Catherine and the occupancy rate does not exceed 5 percent because of the above-mentioned obstacles.
The development of St. Catherine will contribute to promoting tourism in Taba, Nuweiba, Dahab and Sharm El-Sheikh cities as tourists can go on trips to visit the city of St. Catherine then return to the hotels in these cities, said Abdellatif.
