Sharm El Sheikh - Sharm El Sheikh

Sharm El Sheikh (Arabic: شرم الشيخ‎‎, IPA: [ˈʃÉ'ɾm eʃˈʃeːx]) is a city situated on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, Egypt, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 73,000 as of 2015. Sharm El Sheikh is the administrative hub of Egypt's South Sinai Governorate, which includes the smaller coastal towns of Dahab and Nuweiba as well as the mountainous interior, St. Catherine and Mount Sinai. Today the city is a holiday resort and significant centre for tourism in Egypt.

Name

Sharm El Sheikh ("Bay of the Sheikh" in Arabic) is sometimes called the "City of Peace", referring to the large number of international peace conferences that have been held there.

The name is also sometimes written as Sharm al-Sheikh, Sharm el-Sheik or Sharm al-Sheik in English.

Israeli occupation

Years after the Israeli settlement of Ofira was built during the Israeli occupation from 1967 to 1982, modern Sharm El Sheikh was founded by Egyptians. The name of the city is commonly shortened to "Sharm". (Egyptian Arabic: [ʃÉ'ɾm]; Hebrew: [ʃaʁm]).

Geography and history

Sharm El Sheikh is on a promontory overlooking the Straits of Tiran at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Its strategic importance led to its transformation from a fishing village into a major port and naval base for the Egyptian Navy. It was captured by Israel during the Suez Crisis of 1956 and restored to Egypt in 1957. A United Nations peacekeeping force was subsequently stationed there until the 1967 Six-Day War when it was recaptured by Israel. Sharm El Sheikh remained under Israeli control until the Sinai peninsula was restored again to Egypt in 1982 after the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979.

A hierarchical planning approach was adopted for the Gulf of Aqaba, whereby their components were evaluated and subdivided into zones, cities and centers. In accordance with this approach, the Gulf of Aqaba zone was subdivided into four cities: Taba, Nuweiba, Dahab and Sharm El Sheikh. Sharm El Sheikh city has been subdivided into five homogeneous centers, namely Nabq, Ras Nusrani, Naama Bay, Umm Sid and Sharm El Maya.

Sharm El Sheikh city, together with Naama Bay, Hay el Nour, Hadaba, Rowaysat, Montazah and Shark's Bay form a metropolitan area.

Before 1967, Sharm El Sheikh was little more than an occasional base of operations for local fishermen; the nearest permanent settlement was in Nabk, north of Ras El Nasrani ("The Tiran Straits"). Commercial development of the area began during the Israeli presence in the area. The Israelis built the town of Ofira, overlooking Sharm El Maya Bay and the Nesima area, and opened the first tourist-oriented establishments in the area 6 km north at Naama Bay. These included a marina hotel on the southern side of the bay, a nature field school on the northern side, diving clubs, a now well-known promenade, and the Naama Bay Hotel.

After Sinai was restored to Egypt in 1982, the Egyptian government embarked on an initiative to encourage continued development of the city. Foreign investors â€" some of whom had discovered the potential of the locality during the Israeli occupation â€" contributed to a spate of building projects. Environmental zoning laws currently limit the height of buildings in Sharm El Sheikh so as to avoid obscuring the natural beauty of the surroundings.

In 2005, the resort was hit by the Sharm El Sheikh terrorist attacks, which were perpetrated by an extremist Islamist organisation and aimed at Egypt's tourist industry. Eighty-eight people were killed, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were wounded by the attack, making it the deadliest terrorist action in the country's history (exceeding the Luxor massacre of 1997).

The city has played host to a number of important Middle Eastern peace conferences, including the 4 September 1999 agreement to restore Palestinian self-rule over the Gaza Strip. A second summit was held at Sharm on 17 October 2000 following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada, but it failed to end the violence. A summit was held in the city on 3 August 2005 on developments in the Arab world, such as the situation in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Again in 2007, an important ministerial meeting took place in Sharm, where dignitaries discussed Iraqi reconstruction. The World Economic Forum on the Middle East was also hosted by Sharm el-Sheikh in 2006 and 2008.

Amidst the 2011 Egyptian protests, President Hosni Mubarak reportedly went to Sharm El Sheikh and resigned there on 11 February 2011.

Since around the summer of 2015, air flights to Sharm El Sheikh have been severely disrupted due to the rise of the Islamic militant group, the Islamic State, and their numerical terrorist attacks around the world. Many British tourists were left stranded in Sharm El Sheikh in Julyâ€"August 2015 due to the cancellation of flights between Britain and Egypt.

Climate

The city experiences a subtropical arid climate, classified by the Köppen-Geiger system as hot desert (BWh). Typical temperatures range from 18 to 23 °C (64 to 73 °F) in January and 33 to 37 °C (91 to 99 °F) in August. The temperature of the Red Sea in this region ranges from 21 to 28 °C (70 to 82 °F) over the course of the year.

Marsa Alam, Kosseir and Sharm El Sheikh have the warmest winter night temperatures of cities and resorts in Egypt.

The highest recorded temperature was 46 °C (115 °F) on June 2, 2013, and the lowest recorded temperature was 5 °C (41 °F) on February 23, 2000.

Economy and tourism

Sharm El Sheikh was formerly a port, but commercial shipping has been greatly reduced as the result of strict environmental laws introduced in the 1990s. Until 1982, there was only a military port in Sharm El Sheikh, on the northern part of Marsa Bareka. The civilian port development started in the mid-1980s, when the Sharem-al-Maya Bay became the city's main yacht and service port.

Sharm El Sheikh's major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its dramatic landscape, year-round dry climate with long hot summers and warm winters as well as long stretches of natural beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year and have become popular for various watersports, particularly recreational scuba diving and snorkeling. There is great scope for scientific tourism with diversity in marine life species; 250 different coral reefs and 1000 species of fish.

These natural resources, together with its proximity to European tourism markets, have stimulated the rapid growth of tourism that the region is currently experiencing. The total number of resorts increased from three in 1982 to ninety-one in 2000. Guest nights also increased in that period of time from sixteen thousand to 5.1 million. Companies that have been attracted to invest in this city include Hyatt Regency, Accor, Marriott, Le Méridien, Four Seasons, and Ritz-Carlton, with categories of three to five stars. In 2007, the area saw the opening of its first aqua park hotel resort. The four-star Aqua Blu Sharm Resort was built on the Ras Om El Seid, with an area of 133,905 square metres (1,441,340 sq ft).

Sharm is also the home of a congress center, located along Peace Road, where many international political and economic meetings have been held, including peace conferences, ministerial meetings, world bank meetings, and Arab League meetings. The Maritim Sharm El Sheikh International Congress Centre can host events and congresses for up to 4,700 participants.

The nightlife of Sharm El Sheikh is modern and developed. The colorful handicraft stands of the local Bedouin culture are a popular attraction. Ras Mohammed, at the southernmost tip of the peninsula, has been designated a national park, serving to protect the area's wildlife as well as its natural landscape, shoreline and coral reef. A number of international hotels and noted restaurants are clustered around the centre of Sharm, known as Naama Bay, with golf courses and other leisure facilities further up the coast.

The Nabq Managed Resource Protected Area is a 600-square-kilometre (230 sq mi) area of mangroves, coral reefs, fertile dunes, birds and wildlife.

Nationals from the EU and the US do not require a visa for travel to Sharm El Sheikh if the visit is for fourteen days or less, although those travelling outside the Sinai area may still require a visa, which is purchasable for a small fee on arrival. Visitors must be aware that upon first entering the airport after landing, they will most likely be ushered into a queue to buy a visa.

Flight Metrojet Flight 9268 crashed on October 31 due to a terrorist incident, 2015 while flying from Sharm El Sheikh to Saint Petersburg. This caused the repatriation of British and Russian tourists from November 5, 2015.

In November 2015, hotels in Sharm El Sheikh including the Savoy and Hilton Sharm Waterfalls Resort were still known to be using fake bomb detectors such as the ADE 651 to protect guests.

Transport

Lampposts on El Salaam Street use solar power. Taxis and buses are numbered for safety.

Sharm's marina has been redeveloped for private yachts and sailing boats, with a passenger terminal for cruise ships.

Sharm has frequent coach services to Cairo leaving from the Delta Sharm bus station.

Scuba diving and water sports

Sharm El Sheikh has also become a favourite spot for scuba divers from around the world. Being situated near the Red Sea, it provides some of the most stunning underwater scenery and warm water, making this an ideal place to dive. Visitors to Sharm El Sheikh can experience a variety of water activities. Beach seekers find many activities such as diving, snorkelling, windsurfing, kitesurfing, para-sailing, boating, and canoeing.

Ras Mohammed is the national park of South Sinai, located on the tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Along with Nabq, it has famous dive sites in the Red Sea, with 800-metre-deep (2,600 ft) reef walls, pounding current and coral gardens. The Sharm El Sheikh Hyperbaric Medical Center was founded in 1993 (with a grant from USAID) by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, represented by Dr. Adel Taher, to assist with diving-related illnesses and complete the area's reputation as a full-service dive destination.

On 1 December 2010, four tourists âˆ' three Russians and a Ukrainian âˆ' were attacked and injured by an oceanic whitetip shark or sharks in three separate incidents off Sharm El Sheikh. One victim lost a leg, and another an arm. The Egyptian authorities subsequently claimed that the shark responsible for the attacks had been captured alive, but the identification was disputed by the diving industry, based on eyewitness and photographic evidence. Four days later, on 5 December, an elderly German woman was attacked and killed by a shark while snorkelling at the resort.

Education

International schools:

• Sharm International British School
• St. Joseph Schools
• El Fayrouz School
• Geel October school

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