020318_Hurghada SECAP_FINAL

One can notice that these strategic directions don’t cover urban mobility issues (although some elements of it are
dedicated to the development of the subway in Cairo).
2.2.5. Tourism targets
In terms of Tourism, the Ministry of Tourism (MoTm) set ambitious goals in 2013 to increase the hotel rooms’ capacity
to 300,000, so as to accommodate 14 million visitors by 2020. With this target, the number of rooms will increase, and
so the needed energy supply for them to operate. It is noticeable that when setting ambitious goals for the development
of the sector, no complementary objectives were set to ensure that this development would not harm the environment
both locally and globally.
This means that the Governorate of Red Sea has room to “invent a new model” where tourism will be a strong economic
driver, while at the same time contributing to protect the local environment as well as mitigating climate change.
3. City of Hurghada: strategic vision for sustainable energy
3.1. Objectives
CES-MED aims to develop the SECAP in resonance with the already existing strategies, if any, for the participating cities
and governorates. Hence, it is essential to define the main dimensions prioritised by each municipality/Governorate for
a more appropriate SECAP.
3.2. Strategic vision for sustainable energy
The purpose of this section is to clarify the City of Hurghada strategy towards sustainable energy. Since there have been
years of turmoil due to the political climate, a development strategy for the Governorate was not been clearly defined
until 2015. However, some orientation was recently promoted under the leadership of the Governor of the Red Sea,
who proposed a strategy to green the City of Hurghada and make it a world-class responsible tourism destination.
The very long-term objective is to promote a carbon neutral city, through significant efforts in reducing energy
consumption, promoting a shift from fossil fuels towards renewable energy, and developing an ambitious compensation
programme through the increase of green areas by planting more trees along roads, the development of green parks in
the urban areas that would provide fresher areas and contribute to improving air quality. The Governorate’s authorities
are conscious of the many benefits a “Green Hurghada” would bring in terms of attractiveness to the City for the many
tourists willing to enjoy not only wonderful scuba diving sites, but also a pleasant urban area along the coast of Red Sea
to relax and rest in a clean environment.
Indeed, tourism in the city of Hurghada is one of the foremost sectors that would need to be addressed as it holds the
second place in energy consumption with 36% of the total consumption translated to 1,196 GWh/year after transport.
The city of Hurghada is visited by almost 4 million persons per year. In 2015, hotel occupancy in Hurghada reached 62 %
(compared to 5% at the Governorate level). The city counts 150 hotels and resorts representing 44,400 rooms (2016).
Notably, some of these resorts have solar water heaters on their roofs, but most of these systems are not functional.
These hotels and resorts consumed 683,082 MWh/year in 2015. In addition, there are 451 boats used for leisure and
diving activities. The tourism sector is measured as the first GHG emitter in Hurghada with 37% of the total emissions
translated to 491 k teCO2/year. The importance of tourist transportation is very significant, both for transit from
airports to hotels and for sea tours and scuba diving tours. Lastly, hotels produce 150 tons of solid waste daily to be
added to the 200 to 300 tons of the daily domestic waste (i.e. from residents and local activities set aside tourisms),
which is all put into a landfill.
The Governorate of the Red Sea plans to develop projects to address these challenges in order to promote a sustainable
tourism that significantly reduces tourism’s impact on the local environment and global climate.
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