Overview

• Luxury hotels, villas and shopping bazaars are reported to be under construction as part of Egypt’s Great Transfiguration Project launched in 2021.
• Official plans outline additional features including a cable car, a visitor center and an expansion of the nearby airport.
• Egypt promotes the development as a tourism driver and has cited a national goal of attracting 30 million visitors by 2028.
• St. Catherine’s Monastery at the foot of Mount Sinai, a UNESCO World Heritage site sacred to three religions, sits in the area affected by the project.
• The head of the Church of Greece has condemned what he describes as expropriation of monastery property, while members of the Jebeleya tribe report home and eco-camp demolitions and an uprooted gravesite replaced by parking.