The Egyptian government is working to capitalize on and regulate the nautical tourism industry. An online portal to facilitate permitting for boat owners, and upgrades (including greening) of marinas, are additional building blocks to improve the boater experience.
Egypt is in a unique geographical location, with waterways connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe and more than 3,000 km of coastline encompassing areas adjacent to the Mediterranean, Red Sea, Suez Canal, and Nile River. In addition, the country has historical and tourist cities easily accessible from the coast, as well as diving spots and places suitable for water sports. All this makes Egypt a nation of remarkable possibilities for those interested in recreational boating.
Rules and regulations
Just over a year ago, the Egyptian government decided to take action with initiatives aimed at positioning Egypt as an emerging hub for nautical tourism, on a global scale. The intention is to capitalize on and regulate the country’s burgeoning nautical tourism industry; regulations governing the presence and operation of yachts in domestic ports have also been given the green light.
Regulations established by the government govern every aspect related to nautical tourism: from the permits required for yachts to enter and leave Egypt, to the services the various government entities will provide, the requirements yacht owners must have, and the docking fees they will be subject to in Egypt. Authoritative local sources suggest that, with these regulations in place and with the help of favorable geographic positioning, boating tourism could have excellent growth opportunities.
State of the art of the industry
On the business side, nautical tourism is increasingly emerging as a solid source of monetary inflows: the daily expenditure of those visiting Egypt via yacht is 94% higher than that of the average tourist.
There are yacht owners in Egypt as well: about a thousand luxury yachts are flying the Egyptian flag in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. In addition, there are also yachts owned by Egyptians flying foreign flags. The pandemic had minimal impact on local yacht purchases since Egyptians who buy these boats are generally extremely wealthy and their income was not affected by Covid.
Egypt’s population is young and growing, so it is expected that the number of people devoted to yachting may expand in the future; all of this will also increase the demand for yachts.
Increasingly efficient marinas
Egypt currently has 23 marinas and several moorings. Port Marina Resort in El Alamein, which can accommodate as many as 1,500 yachts, is believed to be the first international marina in the eastern part of North Africa. Another major marina is Hurghada Marina, which can accommodate about 188 yachts at a time. Also of note are Taba Heights Marina, which has places to receive up to 50 yachts and can also provide maintenance services, Abu Tig Marina in El Gouna, and Naama Marina in Sharm El Sheikh.
Regulations that went into effect in 2022 set daily mooring fees at $4 to $14 per meter of yacht length. Longer yachts pay more per meter. To increase the tourist influx of recreational boats, the Egyptian state is working to build more marinas including an international port in New Alamein, a marina with the capacity to accommodate up to 333 yachts in El Galala, and the Marassi Marina and Yacht Club, in El Alamein, a facility worth about 24 billion Egyptian pounds, which will accommodate more than 260 yachts.
The government is also implementing a strategy to increase the efficiency of existing marinas and build more attractions for tourists. All this is to ensure the feasibility and sustainability of projects.
Reducing bureaucracy with digitization
Emphasis is also being placed on digitizing procedures for obtaining necessary permits. In Egypt, nautical tourism was hampered by a complicated bureaucratic web that made obtaining permits difficult. The Ministry of Transport announced some time ago the introduction of a digital platform for tourist yachts, to make it a single desk for those involved in recreational boating.
This online desk enables the management, development, and issuance of the necessary approvals and permits by the authorities concerned. According to the ministry, thanks to the new platform, Egypt will be able to find itself ahead of competitors such as Turkey and Greece in the recreational boating sector.
However, the platform could also act as a stimulus to build joint tourism packages together with these countries to strengthen the entire geographical area. At the end of July this year, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced that tourist yachts can apply for visas through a specialized online portal called Yacht Single Window through which foreign yacht visas can be obtained within 30 minutes and paid for in U.S. dollars.
In July 2023, after noting that in the first six months of this year, yacht traffic grew by 64% over the same period in 2022, the Suez Canal Authority announced that it was taking steps to expand three existing marinas for yachts sailing in the canal, hence providing new opportunities for tourists, while also ensuring more space for transient traffic.
One of the ports that has been decided to intervene on is the Ismaila Yacht Marina, which is undergoing an expansion to 25,000 sq m, which will increase berthing from 12 to 65. The intention is to make the port of Ismaila, within a couple of years, the country’s first “Green Marina”, which will use only renewable and alternative energy, including green hydrogen. Ismailia is strategically located midway between Port Said and Suez, a stopping point on Lake Temsah for pleasure ships crossing the canal. Plans are also being developed to build a marina to accommodate 75 yachts in Port Said.
An important boat show, for the Egyptian market, is the El Alamein International Boat Show (ELIBS): it takes place at Marina El Alamein, a luxury resort particularly frequented by the Egyptian “elite”, in northern Egypt, about 106 km from Alexandria.
With an 11km-long beach and an 8-mile-long artificial lake, it is one of the largest artificial marinas in the world. The 2023 edition of the event took place between 2 and 6 November.
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