Tourism lifts Egypt’s construction sector
Egypt will soon be home to the world’s largest Four Seasons hotel with the addition of 800 rooms to an existing resort in Sharm El Sheikh that will almost double its size to 1,400 keys.
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is investing $800mn to expand the resort in the popular Red Sea tourist destination.
The news was announced just a few weeks after the Egyptian Parliament ratified a new law intended to attract investment to Egypt’s tourism and construction sectors.
According to the latest BNC Network report released by The Big 5 Construct Egypt, there are over $335bn worth of active construction projects in the country, 5% of which belong to the hospitality sector.
There are approximately $5.3bn worth of hospitality projects in Egypt today, 70% of which are in the initial stages of construction, says the report, which is titled “Egypt Tourism and Hospitality Market Snapshot 2017”.
“Thanks to a recovered political stability, state led initiatives and the new investment law, we expect the tourism sector, which is vital to Egypt’s economy, to pick up in 2017, further inflating the demand for new hotels and resorts,” said Andy Pert, exhibitions portfolio director, of The Big 5 Construct Egypt, an international construction event launching in Cairo in 2018.
Beyond the Four Season resort, other major hospitality projects underway include the Ritz-Carlton Resort in Sharm El Sheikh and the Jumeirah Gamsha Bay Resort in Hurgada.
New hospitality developments are spread across the country, with Cairo’s rapid urban expansion fueling the demand for additional hotels and resorts in the capital city, which already hosts over 20 million people.
“Cairo holds the record of construction activities in Egypt. Here, the demand for products and materials for the built environment industry is booming, and we expect the construction sector to grow further in the coming years,” said Pert.
To meet this growing demand, dmg events Middle East, Asia & Africa, is bringing to Cairo its most successful and renowned construction event, The Big 5.
From 15 to 17 September 2018, the New Cairo Exhibition Centre will host The Big 5 Construct Egypt, where hundreds of local and international manufacturers and suppliers of construction products will showcase their latest innovations and solutions.
Alongside the exhibition, a Global Meetings program will enable business matchmaking, while The Big 5’s Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certified workshops will offer a unique education programme dedicated to active industry professionals.
According to the organisers, a high-level, paid for ‘Big 5 Investor Summit’ will also attract global and regional institutional and private investors in Egypt’s built environment sector, to discuss current and future construction related project opportunities across the country.
