Sharm El Sheikh (Egyptian Arabic: شرم الشيخ, IPA:[ˈʃɑɾmeʃˈʃeːx]) is an Egyptian city on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, in South Sinai Governorate, on the coastal strip along the Red Sea. Its population is approximately 73,000 as of 2023[update]. 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. The city and holiday resort is a significant centre for tourism in Egypt, while also attracting many international conferences and diplomatic meetings.
Sharm El Sheikh is one of the Asian cities of Egypt.
Name
Sharm El Sheikh (Bay of the Senior) is known as the "City of Peace"; Egyptian Arabic: "Madinet EL-Salam", referring to the large number of International Peace Conferences that have been held there.[2] Amongst Egyptians and also many visitors, the name of the city is commonly shortened to "Sharm" (Egyptian Arabic:[ʃɑɾm]), which is its common name in Egyptian Arabic. The name is also sometimes written as "Sharm el-Cheikh" or "Sharm el-Sheik" in English.
Geography and history
Sharm el Sheikh and the Strait of Tiran in the 1840 Kiepert map of the Sinai Peninsula. The town of Shurm is shown just north of two bays: Sharm El Sheikh and Sharm El Miya (Arabic: شرم المية). This area forms the southern tip of the modern city.Sharm El Sheikh is located on the Egyptian Red Sea coast, at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula
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 conquered by Israel during the Suez Crisis of 1956 and returned to Egypt in 1957. A United Nations peacekeeping force was stationed there until 1967 when it was ordered to leave by Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, a fact that precipitated the Six-Day War during which it was reoccupied by Israel. Sharm El Sheikh remained under Israeli control from 1967 until the Sinai Peninsula was returned back to Egypt in 1982, after the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979 that was signed in Washington, D.C.[3][4] During that time, an Israeli settlement named Ofira was built in the area.[5] In 1968, Israel opened an air force base there which functions today as the Sharm el-Sheikh International Airport.[6] Unlike Sinai's other well-known settlement, Yamit, Ofira was not demolished after Israel ceded control of Sinai to Egypt following the Camp David Accords, but was returned intact and is today a thriving tourist town and home to local Egyptian residents.[7]
Egypt's then-president Hosni Mubarak designated Sharm El Sheikh as The City of Peace in 1982 and the Egyptian government began a policy of encouraging further development of the city. Egyptian businessmen and investors, along with global investors contributed to building several mega projects, including mosques and churches. The city is now an international tourist destination, and environmental zoning laws limit the height of buildings to avoid obscuring the natural beauty of the surroundings.[citation needed]
A hierarchical planning approach was adopted for the Gulf of Aqaba, whereby the area's 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, with Naama Bay, Hay el Nour, Hadaba, Rowaysat, Montazah and Shark's Bay [d] form a metropolitan area.
The site off the shore gun emplacements at Ras Nasrani opposite Tiran Island is now a diving area.[8][9][10]
In 2005, the resort was hit by the Sharm El Sheikh terrorist attacks, which were carried out by an extremist Islamist organisation targeting 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 second deadliest terrorist attack in the country's history.
The city has played host to a number of important Middle Eastern peace conferences, including the 4 September 1999 agreement to establish 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.[11] The World Economic Forum on the Middle East was hosted by Sharm El Sheikh in 2006[12] and 2008.[13]
Amidst the 2011 Egyptian protests, then-president Mubarak reportedly went to Sharm El Sheikh and resigned there on 11 February 2011.[14]
In November 2022, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) was held in Sharm El Sheikh.[15] This conference led to the first loss and damage fund being created.[16]
The city experiences a subtropical arid climate, classified by the Köppen–Geiger system as hot desert (BWh).[17] Temperatures are just short of a tropical climate. 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.[18]
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 3 June 2013, and the lowest recorded temperature was 5 °C (41 °F) on 23 February 2000.[19]
Soho Square Sharm El SheikhNaama Bay CasinoNaama Bay mall
Sharm El Sheikh's major industry is foreign and domestic tourism, owing to its landscape, year-round dry climate with long hot summers and warm winters and its long beaches. Its waters are clear and calm for most of the year[citation needed] and have become popular for various watersports, particularly recreational scuba diving and snorkeling. There is scope for scientific tourism due to the diversity of marine life: 250 different coral reefs and 1000 species of fish.[citation needed]
These natural resources, together with its proximity to tourist markets in Europe, have stimulated rapid growth in tourism in the region. The number of resorts has increased from three in 1982 to ninety-one in 2000. Guest nights also increased in that period from sixteen thousand to 5.1 million. International hotel companies that currently operate in the city include Accor (Mövenpick, Novotel, Rixos), Deutsche Hospitality (Steigenberger), Four Seasons, Hilton (DoubleTree), Marriott (Renaissance, Sheraton), and Rotana, with categories of three to five stars. In 2007, the first aqua park hotel resort opened in the area. 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 home to a congress center, located along Peace Road, where international political and economic meetings have been held, including peace conferences, ministerial meetings, world bank meetings, and Arab League meetings.[citation needed] The Maritim Sharm El Sheikh International Congress Centre can host events and congresses for up to 4,700 participants.
There is nightlife in Sharm El Sheikh. The colorful handicraft stands of the local Bedouin culture are a popular attraction.[citation needed]Ras Muhammad National Park, at the southernmost tip of the peninsula, has been designated a national park, protecting the area's wildlife, natural landscape, shoreline and coral reef. There are a number of international hotels and restaurants in the centre of Sharm, in the area known as Naama Bay, with golf courses and other leisure facilities further up the coast.
As of 2012, 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.[28] Visitors are often ushered into a queue to buy a visa after entering the airport upon landing.
Flight incidents
On August 23, 2015, Thomson Airways Flight 476, approaching Sharm El Sheikh at the end of a flight from London Stansted Airport with 189 passengers aboard, took evasive action to avoid a missile traveling toward it.[29] the missile missed the airliner by about 1,000 feet (300 meters), and the plane landed safely. A UK investigation concluded that the missile was an Egyptian armed forces missile that had strayed from a military exercise, although the Egyptian government said the flight was never at risk.[30]
On October 31, 2015, while flying from Sharm El Sheikh to Saint Petersburg, Metrojet Flight 9268 was destroyed by a bomb above the northern Sinai following its departure from Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, killing all 224 people on board,[31] Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility for this incident. This caused the repatriation of British and Russian tourists from November 5, 2015.[32] Following these events, many countries ordered all flights to Sharm El Sheikh be suspended.[33] These suspensions were gradually lifted as the security situation improved, with the UK government ending its ban on direct flights on October 22, 2019.[34] The process of lifting flight suspensions was completed on August 9, 2021, when the first direct flight from Russia since November 2015 (operated by Rossiya Airlines) landed at Sharm El Sheikh International Airport.[35]
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.
Sharm El Sheikh International Airport
Departure Hall
Scuba diving and water sports
Sharm El Sheikh has become a popular location for scuba diving[36] as a result of its underwater scenery and warm waters. Other beach activities include snorkeling, windsurfing, kite-surfing, para-sailing, boating, and canoeing.[citation needed]
Ras Muhammad National Park is located at the southernmost tip of the Sinai Peninsula where the waters of the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez meet, producing strong currents and providing a habitat for diverse marine life. Two reefs popular with divers are Shark Reef, a vertical wall descending to over 800 metres (2,600 ft), and Yolanda Reef, the site of the wreck of the Yolanda.[citation needed]
The Straits of Tiran are located at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba and in a major shipping lane. There are four reefs there, each named after one of the British cartographers who first mapped them: Gordan, Thomas, Woodhouse and Jackson. In summer months, hammerhead sharks swim in schools near the reefs.[citation needed]
The Sharm El Sheikh Hyperbaric Medical Center was founded in 1993 by the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism with a grant from USAID, to assist with diving-related medical conditions.[citation needed]
On 1 December 2010, four tourists − three Russians and a Ukrainian − 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 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.[37][38] Four days later, on 5 December, an elderly German woman was attacked and killed by a shark while snorkeling at the resort.[39]
^The Jewish Agency's Digest of Press and Events Jewish Agency for Israel - 1956 Egyptian Blockade. "The point on the south-eastern coast of Sinai directly facing Tiran is known as Ras Nasrani."
^Kenes Ha-shenati - Page 50 Ḥevrah ha-geʼologit ha-Yiśreʼelit. Kenes - 1982 "Between Eilat and Ras Nasrani, only about 55-60 such baylets are distributed along some 200 km of the coast (1 per 3-31/2 km). Between Ras Nasrani and Ras Muhammad, some 35 baylets line 40 km of coast (1 per 1 km) ..."
^Al J. Venter, Darrell Hattingh Where to dive in southern Africa and off the islands Page 249. ISBN1-874800-17-0. 1990 "It is impossible for me to forget my first dive at Ras Nasrani. After diving off the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba for two weeks once before, I eventually worked my way to this area located directly across from Tiran Island..."
^"Sharm El Sheikh Airport Normals 1991–2020". World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 2 October 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
^Globetrotter19 (7 October 2017). "English". Archived from the original on 29 December 2016 – via Wikimedia Commons.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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