South East Mediterranean- Tourism

The East Mediterranean's greatest asset as a tourist destination is its diversity. The region's natural and geographic attributes creates a unique constellation of amenities that few other areas have to offer. Resort vacationing can be combined with sea sports, desert safaris and sight-seeing. A weekend on the seashore can be tacked on to longer cultural toursreligious pilgrimages or business conventions and conferences. The proximity to large cities such as Tel Aviv, Cairo and Alexandria adds significantly to the attractiveness of the region as a tourist destination. Those seeking urban as well as rural landscapes can easily 'escape' back to civilization for an elegant meal, shopping or a night on the town. Regional climatic conditions are suited to winter as well as summer tourism.

The South East Mediterranean serves as a gateway to the area's many historical, cultural and religious sites and attractions, including Cairo, Jerusalem, Jericho, Petra and the Suez Canal. In addition, it is near various natural attractions such as the Dead Sea, the Red Sea coral reefs, and the Siwa Oasis in northwestern Egypt. In its own right, the region serves as a tourist center, offering the advantages of the western Mediterranean rivieras with the added benefits of more temperate climates, longer summers, cleaner beaches and water, and the solitude of exotic desert dune landscapes. The area's location and natural attributes make it suitable for a wide range of tourism activites -adventure, relaxation, cultural, convention, health and recreation.

Conditions in the East Mediterranean can appeal to all of these profile categories:

Adventure: dessert tourism in the Negev, North Sinai and western Egyptian desserts; eco-tourism including the RamoCrater, the Siwa Oasis in Egypt, Kadesh Barbea and the Bardawil Lagoon in Northern Sinai.

Relaxation - relatively unpolluted and untouched, the Eastern Mediterranean can be developed as a resort area. The potential of this region stems primarily from the following attributes: location, temperate climatic conditions, relative seclusion, and the existence of a system of services, infrastructure and technology.

Cultural : the region's rich history enables the development of routes and programs targeted for various tourist sectors based on specific subjects. In addition to the major archaeological sites in Egypt and Israel, ruins, dating primarily from the Hellinstic period are strewn throughout the region. Tourism themes, such as the Via Maris, can be developed in the immediate coastal region.

Convention: The existence of urban centers such as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and Cairo and Alexandria, in the immediate and outlying areas, as well as major academic institutions, facilitates development of this kind of tourism. These cities already host major international conferences and trade fairs. The ability to combine conference with other types of tourism is an added advantage when considering development options.

Health: The desert climate can be exploited to develop spas and health centers focusing on treatment of respiratory and arthritic conditions. Proximity to the Yoav hot springs and Dead Sea facilities enhances the potential for developing health tourism in the region.

Recreation: Water sports, including sailing and wind surfing, hiking, biking, rock climbing, horseback and camping tours, are just some of the examples of the options open to develop this style of tourism. With the development of proper facilities, the mild and arid climate can be exploited for off-season athletic training and special athletic events.

Tourism development has started at El-Arish, Ashkelon and Gaza. Other sites along the entire length of the coastal rim can be developed to exploit the region's vast tourist potential.

A lion's share of foreign tourism to the East Mediterranean region is European, primarily from Germany, France and England. Much of Egypt's tourism to its Mediterranean coast is from Islamic countries. Israel attracts substantial numbers of tourists from the United States. Although currently not included on the tourism trail, planned development of the southern coast will attract both North American and European tourists.

Site	Adven- ture	Relax- ation	Cul- tural	Conven- tion	Health	Recre- ation	Attrac- tions
Coast
Ashdod - Ashkelon	+	+	+	+	-	+	Beaches, resorts, hotels, dune park, yachting & cruises, diving, archeo- logical sites, Nitzanim, Ashkelon Park, kibbutzim, Beit Jabrin
Gaza Strip	+	+	+	-	-	+	Gaza strip beaches, resorts, dunes, yachting, Old Gaza, archeo- logical ruins
El Arish region	+	+	+	-	-	+	archeo- logical sites in Raffah area, El Arish beaches, dunes, resorts, Bardawil Lagoon Suez Canal & Red Sea cruises
Inland
Negev	+	+	+	-	+	+	Ramon Crater, desert resorts, spice route, Beer Sheva, Yoav hot springs, Dead Sea, Arad
North Sinai	+	-	+	-	-	-	Qadesh Barnea, Mt. Sinai, Red Sea

Source: Based on Inter-ministerial Working Group for Cooperation in Regional Development, Development Options for the Southeast Mediterranean, working paper, March 1995.

The Mediterranean coasts and surrounding desert environs is ripe for the development of resort, recreational, and adventure tourism on a large scale. The sunny climate, placid beaches and warm Mediterranean waters create idyllic conditions for vacation tourism development. Moreover, proximity to major historical and natural tourist attractions, enable the creation of "relaxation plus" packages that combine traditional resort and recreation vacationing with site seeing and other activities.

Tourism on Israels southern coast has remained relatively undeveloped. As of 1995, there were only 900 hotel and vacation village rooms in the Ashkelon-Ashdod area. Tourism development plans have been elaboration under the assumption that the primary tourism products will be designed for tourists seeking a combination of sightseeing and relaxation.

Development plans for the southern coastal strip of Israel includes:

• construction of tourism infrastructure including hotels and commercial centers;
• development of recreational facilities such as public beaches and marinas;
• preservation of the coastal shoreline and sand dunes and extremely controlled development and access for tourism purposes. No road connecting the various municipal and regional beach areas will be built along the shoreline.

a. Accommodations and Commercial Centers

The Master Plan for the development of tourism envisages the construction of an additional 7,800 hotel and vacation village rooms along the southern coast strip by the year 2010. Ashkelon is designated as the major tourism city on the southern coastal strip. This city has a large national park, spacious beach areas, a marina, remnants of an ancient city and large lots for hotel development. Construction of 4,000 additional rooms is being planned for the year 2010.

Development will take place within the framework of an integrated system, based primarily on small and medium-sized tourist sites spread along the coastline and central municipal centers to serve commercial, medical, financial and entertainment needs. A mix of hotel and non-hotel accommodations is being planned, so as to reflect current tourism trends away from strict package touring towards self-catering accommodations, family vacations, adventure and sports tourism.

	1998		2000	2003
No. of Tourist Overnights	3,000		3,920	4,300
Tourism Type: (in thousands)
Cultural	424		736	1,272
Relaxation	350		637	844
Family visitation	63		75	97
Conferences	10		12	10
Other	9		12	10
Local (Israeli)	400		560	660
Total Overnights	1,256	2,032		2,893
No. Rooms Required:
Foreign (tourists)	2,348		4,037	6,124
Local (Israelis)	609		852	1,005
Total Demand	2,957		4,889	7,129

Source: Israel Ministry of Tourism and the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, A Programatic Blueprint for Tourism in the Ashdod-Ashkelon Coastal Strip, Jerusalem: 1994

Given the accent on cultural and relaxation vacationing, the mix of accommodation types differs from that of the major urban centers. In addition to traditional luxury hotel accommodations, tourist class hotels will be needed to accommodate large groups. Vacation villages and vacation homes can meet demand of family vacationers as well as others who prefer 'self-catering' style vacationing.

The mix proposed to address future demand is a follows:

First and second-class hotels and resorts - 35%

Tourist class hotels - 30%

Vacation villages - 15%

Vacation homes - 20%

In addition to accommodations, extensive investment in commercial ventures such as the development of restaurants, shopping centers, and other entertainment and tourist attractions is being planned.

b. Development of Beachfront Areas

Ashdod: Plans focus on of recreational facilities at the beach area to south of the city of Ashdod. Within Ashdod, two major focal points will be developed for tourism: accresss from the marina and the southern tip near the fort. A vacation village will be built on the southern city limits.

Nitzanim Beach: Several small vacation villages are being planned for the Nitzanim Beach and

Sol Nitzan fresh water spring area. These villages will be built to blend in with the natural surroundings and will not present a threat to the environmental integrety of the surrounding sand dunes and beach area.

Nitzanim Reserve Dune Park: A 15,000 thousand sq. m. dune park will be deveat the Nitzanim Reserve. It will include a visitor's center, a sand-oriented recreational center, a hiking, camel, mule and horseback riding center, and an in-park transportation system. This park will at one and the same time give people access to the dunes and oases while protecting them.

Ashkelon: The potential for tourism development is considerable. Askelon has land suitable for the development of a wide array of attractions, including a golf resort, horse and car race facilities, and rehabiltation of archaelogical sites. Hotels can be built adjacent to the national park. Development of archaelogical attractions will include: rehabilitation of the old tower and excavation of ruins from the Roman period, including an ancient winery and other findings. Enterntainment services and restaurants will have to be upgraded.

Kfar Zikim Recreational Area: The area south of Ashkelon will be developed for adventure- oriented low-cost tourism, targeting youth and young adults. Nahal Shikma will be developed for adventure tourism based on water and swamp activities. Budget vacation villages will be constructed in this area.

This programme consists of two of the priority projects adopted by the SEMED Technical Support Unit: Institutional Strengthening and Training for Tourism and Basic Tourism Planning studies.

This project is designed to help develop institutions for tourism planning in Gaza. It entails the provision of a Technical Assistance Expert to work with the Ministry of Tourism Office of the Palestinian Authority and to equip the Gaza office with office equipment, computers, and a small library of tourism publications. The Technical Assistance Expert will help the Ministry train staff and design and initiate technical training courses for tourism operators. He will be appointed for one year with an option for a one year extension.

Both Israel and Egypt can contribute to the training programmes and can provide professional advice to Palestinian Ministry personnel.

The estimated cost components for this project include:

b. Basic tourism planning studies

Although the resource base in the SEMED region is high, tourism is relatively underdeveloped. This project is designed to provide rudimentary studies that will facilitate the planning of tourism development in the region.

These studies will include:

• Computerized Tourism Data Base Study;>
• Market Research Survey for Tourism Potential;
• Coastline Study;
• Historical and Cultural Sites Study;
• Study of Handicraft Potential

Indicative costs for this series of studies are summarized below: