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What El Gouna is known for
El Gouna is a town of man-made islands and around 25,000 residents on the Red Sea coast. It was dredged out of undeveloped coast from 1989 and given its own marinas, town-run services, one architectural style and a film festival. It works year-round rather than by season.
A flat run of sand
In 1989 the site held little the outside world wanted to buy. Samih Sawiris wanted beach houses and a private marina, and settled on a flat run of sand between the Red Sea and the Eastern Desert mountains that are Ma’aza Bedouin country. There was no town, no water, no power and one coast road.
An undeveloped shore sells nothing on its own, and this one had competition. Hurghada was already a resort city with an international airport twenty five kilometers south, built up by investment from the 1980s. To pull visitors past a working resort, someone would have to build the reason to choose it, then everything a town needs to stay standing.
Building it on purpose
From 1989 Sawiris’s firm, later Orascom Development, dredged saltwater lagoons and carved the islands between them. It ran the town’s services, cut marinas at Abu Tig, Fanadir and Abydos, held it all to one architectural style, and built hotels. In 2017 the family launched the El Gouna Film Festival.
What the town earns
El Gouna is now a town of around 25,000 residents, roughly 18 hotels and close to 100 restaurants, half an hour from Hurghada International Airport. In 2014 it took the Global Green Town Award, the first destination in Africa and the Middle East to do so.
Why it worked
El Gouna started from two real advantages and manufactured the rest. Hurghada’s international airport was already open twenty five kilometers south, and the site was a flat run of sand at the waterline, ground a dredger could open into lagoons.
What the coast lacked was anything the outside world wanted to buy, so the developer built it: town-run services, marinas, one architectural style, a film festival for the headline. Each piece made the next easier, and plain sand compounded into a destination chosen on purpose.
Questions people ask about El Gouna
Why is El Gouna, Egypt famous?
El Gouna is known for its man-made islands, dredged out of undeveloped Red Sea coast from 1989. It has its own marinas, town-run services, one architectural style and the El Gouna Film Festival, launched in 2017, and it works year-round rather than by season.
Who built El Gouna?
Samih Sawiris built El Gouna on purpose. From 1989 his firm, later Orascom Development, dredged saltwater lagoons, carved the islands between them, ran the town's services, cut marinas at Abu Tig, Fanadir and Abydos, and built hotels.
How many people live in El Gouna?
El Gouna is now a town of around 25,000 residents, with roughly 18 hotels and close to 100 restaurants. It sits half an hour from Hurghada International Airport.
What award did El Gouna win in 2014?
In 2014 El Gouna took the Global Green Town Award, the first destination in Africa and the Middle East to do so. The town works year-round rather than by season.