On the famous rock that later bore its name, actress and singer Laila Murad once sat singing to the “breeze and the waves” in the film Beach of Love, speaking to the sea — her only confidant — about the people who “come and go,” when beaches still brought together the rich and the poor. In the film’s story, “Laila,” the daughter of a telegraph clerk, meets a wealthy young man — united by the sea that was once everyone’s escape.
Those beaches are no longer as accessible as they once were. That’s what Ahmed Hussein* — a pseudonym — from Matrouh Governorate, confirms. Ahmed says that he and his family can no longer enter beaches that were once open to them, such as Ras El-Hekma or the North Coast starting from Marina.
Tourist Resorts Devour Public Beaches
Ahmed, 38, laments the changing landscape of leisure in his hometown. The people of Matrouh, he says, now have little choice but to walk along the tourist promenade or seek faraway spots — adding both financial and emotional burdens. He recalls that access to coastal areas, starting from Marina, was once completely open to locals.
Ahmed explains that the most beautiful thing about Matrouh used to be its natural simplicity: “I’d swim in the sea, breathe the fresh air, and sit under the sun.”
He says that those natural charms have disappeared with the wave of new construction and real estate projects: “What’s available now is purely investment-driven… if you want to enjoy the nature God created, you have to be able to afford it.”
Between 2019 and 2024, the number of coastal tourist resorts in Egypt increased by 478. Private beaches accounted for 88 percent of all beaches in the country in 2024 — compared to just 14 percent in 2013 — according to an analysis of data from Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
By 2024, Egypt had 562 coastal tourist villages and around 500 private beaches, according to the same source.
Gulf Capital Facing the Sea
According to a database compiled by Zawia3, covering 106 tourist resorts announced for development along the coastal areas of Matrouh Governorate — most located in the stretch between Alamein and Marsa Matrouh — these resorts together span approximately 31,000 feddans (about 130.2 million square meters) of land, with construction already underway for the majority of them.
The data analysis also revealed that 79 of these resorts have beachfront access, covering nearly 72 kilometers of shoreline.
Further analysis shows that investments involving Gulf partnerships — by individuals or sovereign entities — have acquired beachfronts totaling around 32 kilometers along Egypt’s northwestern coast, within resort projects occupying approximately 15,700 feddans (about 65.9 million square meters) — representing roughly 51 percent of the total resort areas included in the analysis. This figure does not include the Ras El-Hekma City project, announced by the Egyptian government in February 2024, which is being developed by Abu Dhabi Holding (ADQ) and boasts a 44-kilometer beachfront.
According to the same analysis, several of the coastal resorts are being developed by sovereign wealth funds and government-owned entities from Gulf states, including Abu Dhabi Holding (ADQ), Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), the Kuwait Investment Authority, the Qatar Investment Authority through Qatari Diar, and the Saudi Ministry of Finance. These projects together account for 43 percent of the total land area and over half of the total shoreline length of all projects developed with Gulf partnerships or capital.
Adding to this are the contributions of private companies from Gulf states, as well as partnerships with businessmen who currently serve or have previously served in governmental positions in those countries. Among them are Majid Al Nuaimi, Head of the Amiri Diwan and member of the Executive Council of the Emirate of Ajman, and Mohammed Al Hajeri, an executive director at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) — the investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government.
The list of real estate developers also includes Mohamed Alabbar, former advisor to the Ruler of Dubai and founding Director General of the Dubai Department of Economic Development. Alabbar chairs the board of Emaar Misr, a subsidiary partly owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD).
Emaar Misr’s investments in the Marassi and Soul Luxury Beach Resort projects on Egypt’s northwestern coast amount to $18 billion, including $15 billion allocated to the Marassi development.
The environmental requirements for licensing coastal resorts stipulate that no construction may take place within the beach protection zone — defined as the area extending 200 meters inland from the shoreline, and only with the ministry’s approval. Developers are also required to comply with all coastal construction regulations.
However, the High Committee for Beach Licensing has the authority to review and approve all construction permits within the restricted zone that runs along Egypt’s entire coastline.
The land ownership scene along the North Coast remains murky in several cases. One notable example is the land on which Emaar Misr’s Marassi project — partly owned by the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD) — was built.
Emaar Misr obtained the land at a price of 160.5 Egyptian pounds per square meter (equivalent at the time to 27.9 US dollars per square meter), with a total value of approximately 1.004 billion Egyptian pounds (equivalent at the time to around 174.6 million US dollars).
EGOTH (the Egyptian General Company for Tourism and Hotels) stated that it had received the land through an allocation from the Ministry of Tourism.
In 2012, Emaar Misr obtained a license to implement the first phase of the Marassi project. However, a few months later, the Investment Administration in Matrouh Governorate stated that it had determined it held jurisdiction over the land, and that EGOTH had no right to sell it without prior approval from the governorate. Consequently, the Real Estate Registration Authority refused to register the land.
Licensing for the project’s second phase was suspended pending resolution of the dispute by a specialized committee. Later, Emaar completed several phases of construction and began selling residential units.
According to Emaar Misr’s 2020 financial report, the land on which the Marassi project stands is now officially registered under the company’s name.
The Sea as an Unspoken Private Property
Hossam Moharram, former advisor to Egypt’s Minister of Environment, says that the model of tourist villages — which began in the 1970s by restricting beach access exclusively to residents — is unconstitutional and could be overturned by the Supreme Constitutional Court if challenged legally.
Moharram believes that public beaches are a right for all citizens. He sees no issue in allowing restaurants and recreational facilities along the shore, provided they comply with environmental regulations and do not extend to banning citizens from entering beaches or limiting access to residents of tourist resorts, where services are offered at exorbitant prices. “Sixty to seventy percent of Egyptians can no longer afford to enjoy the sea,” he says.
Lawyer and human rights advocate Entessar El-Saeed, head of the Cairo Foundation for Development and Law, agrees, affirming that public beaches are a constitutional right:
“It’s inconceivable that a country with thousands of kilometers of coastline has turned most of it into gated areas marked with signs reading ‘Entry for guests only’ — as if the sea had become private property.”
She pointed out that legal appeals are possible if it is proven that public beaches have been allocated, leased, or their nature altered in a manner that violates the constitution or environmental laws.
El-Saeed emphasized that natural resources — including beaches and coastlines — belong to the people, and the state is responsible for protecting them and preventing their exploitation.
According to her, Articles 32 and 45 of the 2014 Constitution, along with Environmental Law No. 4 of 1994, explicitly require environmental protection measures and official environmental approvals before any development activity — particularly in ecologically sensitive coastal zones. “No entity, not even the state itself, has the right to relinquish control over beaches without transparent regulations and a demonstrable public benefit,” she says.
Meanwhile, Major General Hussein Abu Taleb, former head of the Dabaa City Council in Matrouh Governorate, acknowledged that authorities are aware that many tourist projects along the North Coast restrict beach access exclusively to resort guests. His statement came after several government departments in Matrouh demanded that tourist villages pay fees for the right of use over beaches and coastal waters.
In a televised interview, Abu Taleb stated that these projects were granted licenses to build facilities on land adjacent to the sea — not to monopolize the beaches, which are public property. “They must pay for using them,” he said, stressing that the contracts signed between the governorate (the legal custodian of the land) and the resort developers contain no clause granting ownership of the beach or the sea itself.
Abu Taleb added, “Tourist villages have a special status — they’re closed off, and only the property owners use the sand and the sea.” He continued, “It’s absolutely impossible for anyone to enter any of these villages, especially along the North Coast. No one can get in.”
Special Interest
Data analysis by Zawia3 reveals that projects backed by Emirati investment account for half of all Gulf-funded or Gulf-partnered development projects along Egypt’s northwestern coast, based on a database of 106 tourist developments in the region.
Resorts linked to Emirati investments control around 70 percent of the total beachfront length of all Gulf-funded projects, while two-thirds of the total land area allocated to these developments are under Emirati ownership or partnership.
Emirati interest became even more pronounced with the announcement of the Ras El-Hekma City project on Egypt’s northwestern coast — a megaproject featuring industrial zones, an international airport, logistics hubs, and vital urban services. The city covers most of the Ras El-Hekma Peninsula, spanning roughly 170 million square meters with a 44-kilometer beachfront and a 100-meter-wide coastal protection zone.
Emirati media celebrated the Ras El-Hekma project, with the Emirates News Agency (WAM) describing it as “the crown jewel of the UAE’s overseas investments.” The city is located west of Alexandria, between Marsa Matrouh and New Alamein, on land transferred to the New Urban Communities Authority. The Egyptian government announced that the project is expected to attract $150 billion in total investments.
The Abu Dhabi Holding Company (ADQ) holds the development rights for Ras El-Hekma in exchange for a $24 billion direct payment, while the Egyptian government retains a 35 percent stake in the project. ADQ will also convert $11 billion of deposits into investments in major Egyptian infrastructure and real estate projects.
The project — described as the largest real estate and tourism investment deal in Egypt’s modern history — includes residential neighborhoods, international hotels and resorts, entertainment areas, essential infrastructure, a free economic zone, logistics centers, a large marina for yachts, and business hubs to attract global companies. It also involves the construction of an international airport, which ADQ will develop in return for a share of the project’s profits.
The project’s developer, Modon Holding, has launched Phase One of Ras El-Hekma City, comprising 7,700 residential units with expected sales reaching $6.2 billion (300 billion Egyptian pounds) by the end of 2025. Prices start at 15.9 million Egyptian pounds ($329,000) for a one-bedroom unit.
Abu Dhabi Holding (ADQ) is also linked to one of Egypt’s largest real estate conglomerates, Talaat Moustafa Group (TMG). In 2024, ADQ and ADNEC Group acquired 40.5 percent of Icon, TMG’s hospitality subsidiary, with plans to invest through a special-purpose vehicle. TMG also announced a formal partnership with ADQ to jointly develop parts of the Ras El-Hekma project.
Hisham Talaat Moustafa, CEO and Managing Director of Talaat Moustafa Group Holding, was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2010 for the murder of Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim, but received a presidential pardon in 2017, after which he resumed his business activities.
Moustafa now plays a leading role in strategic projects in cooperation with the Egyptian government and Gulf investment funds, including ADQ. His group owns several major real estate and tourism developments in Egypt — such as Madinaty, Al-Rehab, and South Med on the North Coast — and he currently serves as a member of the Egyptian Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee for Tourism Development.
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Government Presence
Projects developed by companies with government participation account for roughly one-third of the total land area allocated to existing or ongoing coastal resort developments, according to the Zawia3 database. These projects also control approximately 13 kilometers of beachfront.
Through its City Edge Developments portfolio — a company owned by the Egyptian government — the New Urban Communities Authority (NUCA) holds the largest share of the New Alamein City project, launched in 2018, followed by the Housing and Development Bank. Unit prices in the project start at 16.8 million Egyptian pounds ($347,000).
The still-developing city includes numerous tourism and entertainment facilities, as well as educational institutions, and spans about 47,600 feddans (200 million square meters). It also features a 14-kilometer promenade along the Mediterranean coast.
The government is additionally involved in four other joint projects with the private sector, through Hyde Park Developments and the National Bank of Egypt — both state-owned entities — as well as through the Saudi Egyptian Construction Company, according to the database covering 106 coastal tourism projects along Egypt’s North Coast.
In 2020, a presidential decree transferred ownership of portions of the northwestern coast to the New Urban Communities Authority to establish new urban communities. An area of approximately 707,200 feddans (2,972 square kilometers) was allocated to the Authority.
The largest government-affiliated project is the South Med Village, a partnership between the state and businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa. Announced in 2024, the project is valued at around $21 billion and covers 23 million square meters. It includes a large international marina for yachts and tourist vessels.
According to residents of Gmeima village, where the project is being built, compensation offers ranged between 3,000 and 7,000 Egyptian pounds ($62–$145) per square meter. Meanwhile, the Talaat Moustafa Group announced that the project generated 200 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.16 billion) in sales within just six days, with total projected sales expected to reach 1.6 trillion Egyptian pounds ($33.15 billion).
Who Is Responsible for Environmental Impact?
An environmental impact assessment (EIA) is one of the fundamental requirements for obtaining a license to establish resorts or tourism projects in Egypt. The preparation of this study is governed by the executive regulations of Environmental Law No. 4 of 1994, as amended by Law No. 9 of 2009, and is carried out under the supervision of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA).
Tourist resorts are classified as Category (B) or Category (C) projects according to several criteria, primarily the project’s scale and geographical location. Small or medium-sized resorts fall under Category (B), while large resorts or those located in environmentally sensitive areas — such as coastal zones or nature reserves — are placed under Category (C), the highest-impact category. These projects require stricter environmental conditions and more detailed reviews, according to the EEAA’s Guidelines for Environmental Impact Assessment Procedures.
In such cases, the law mandates public consultation, ensuring citizen participation — alongside relevant authorities — during both the planning and implementation phases of these high-impact projects.
Sahar Mehanna, former head of the Fisheries Division at the National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, explains that the evaluation of such projects must ensure no harm to the natural landscape, no coastal erosion, and no disruption to marine life or ecosystems. She stresses adherence to environmental laws prohibiting pollution, requiring proper waste management and banning the disposal of waste into waterways, as well as soil and water sample analysis.
Mehanna adds that no project should be executed before an environmental impact study is conducted and officially approved by a government body, confirming that the project will not harm aquatic life or biodiversity. The study, she says, must bear the seal of an authorized public institution.
She further clarifies that any project must avoid encroaching on natural environments, altering surrounding ecosystems through land reclamation or additions, or causing coastal erosion or marine disturbance.
Notably, the 2009 amendments to the Environmental Impact Assessment law introduced a major shift in responsibility. The task of preparing the EIA was transferred from the government to the project owner. Previously, the law required “the competent administrative authority or the licensing body to conduct the environmental impact assessment,” but the amendments made it mandatory for “every natural or legal person, public or private, to submit an environmental assessment study for the project.” The role of the administrative body became limited to reviewing and evaluating the study submitted by the investor, according to Articles 19 and 20 of Law No. 9 of 2009 — a change highlighted in a 2025 study by the Human and City Center for Humanities and Social Research in Egypt.
Mehanna confirms that violations by investors are frequent — such as the construction of jetties that erode soil or dumping waste into the sea. “Some investors,” she says, “can build a jetty overnight, turning it into a fait accompli.”
Environmental Risks
The expansion of tourist resorts and recreational zones has become one of the primary threats to Egypt’s northwestern Mediterranean coastline. According to a study published in the journal Regional Studies in Marine Science, conducted by researchers from Alexandria University and the National Water Research Center, coastal erosion has been steadily increasing between 1990 and 2020.
The 2023 study, which focused on the stretch between Dabaa and Ras El-Hekma, revealed that the period from 2010 to 2020 recorded the highest erosion rate, with the shoreline retreating by an average of 1.12 meters per year.
Another Egyptian study published in the Journal of the Faculty of Arts, Beni Suef University, found that between 2016 and 2023, human intervention significantly altered the morphology of the shoreline between New Alamein and Sidi Abdel Rahman on the North Coast.
This intervention was tied to the establishment and construction of tourist resorts. Some of these developments undertook beach engineering works to “protect” or reshape the shore, built yacht marinas, developed coastal lagoons, and connected them to the sea through artificial inlets. Many projects also built within the beach protection zone, leading to a net shoreline retreat of approximately 662.6 meters over eight years — the largest recorded rate of erosion among all time periods covered by the study (1996–2023).
Ezz El-Din Gomaa, a 40-year-old fisherman and diver from Matrouh with 26 years of experience, says that the expansion of tourist projects has severely impacted the marine environment due to wastewater discharges into the sea, as well as oil residues, plastic waste, and garbage dumped along the coast.
He explains that soil dredging from construction activities has created limestone deposits in the seabed, forming an unsuitable environment for marine species such as seabass and white grouper, which have now become increasingly rare.
Gomaa adds that fishermen have been barred from accessing nearly 80 percent of Matrouh’s beaches, as newly built resorts in areas like Ras El-Hekma, Gmeima, Sidi Abdel Rahman, Sidi Heneish, and Bagoush have restricted entry. This has caused severe difficulties for local fishermen, as some resort owners report boats to security forces, leading at times to the confiscation of equipment and vessels — something Gomaa says he has personally experienced several times.
Meanwhile, Ahmed Hussein* from Matrouh laments: “We can no longer enjoy our usual activities — fishing, swimming, or desert safaris — not to mention the astronomical prices of services compared to the rest of the country.” He adds, “For the past year and a half, I haven’t been able to take my family to the sea.”
The rock where Laila Murad once sang to the waves still stands in its place — but reaching it is no longer free. Today, anyone wishing to climb it must first pay an entrance fee to access the beach.
Alexandria’s Beaches
Mohamed Said, a 47-year-old recreational fisherman from Alexandria, can no longer access large stretches of Egypt’s northern coastline due to the rapid expansion of tourism projects.
Said has noticed a sharp decline in both the quantity and size of fish in recent years, coinciding with the growth of coastal investments. “The sea used to be full of blessings,” he says. “Fish were plentiful and large, but the new expansions have scared them away — along with unregulated overfishing and the absence of proper oversight.”
He adds, “In 2010, I used to catch five to six kilograms of fish in one or two outings. Now, I rarely get more than a single kilogram.” Said notes that some popular fish species, such as khazar, have disappeared completely, while red mullet (bourbon) stocks have drastically declined over the past decade.
Public beaches across Egypt have shrunk significantly, giving way to commercial tourism projects. Since 2010, the Alexandria Governorate has implemented a policy dividing public beaches into three categories — premium, touristic, and free — and further subdividing each large beach into several smaller ones to facilitate commercial leasing and exploitation. This policy has sharply reduced the number of public beaches compared to private ones, leaving only 20 free beaches accessible to the public.
In addition, 11 premium beaches and 11 touristic beaches were auctioned publicly to investors. Recently, three new categories have been added to the classification system — private, public, and service upon request — according to a study by the Human and City Center for Humanities and Social Research in Egypt.
The Center’s field observations found that the seaside promenade in areas such as Sidi Bishr, Cleopatra, Sporting, and Camp Chezar has been transformed into a chain of cafés and restaurants due to weak enforcement and unregulated construction along the Corniche between 2011 and 2019. From 2019 to 2024, parts of the promenade were converted into parking lots for cafés and restaurants, while the Shatby public beach was filled in in 2017 to make space for a private garage.
Alexandria stands as a clear example of how the spread of tourism projects has reduced public access to the sea. The number of private beaches in the governorate rose sharply over ten years — reaching 65 in 2024, compared to none in 2013. The number of coastal tourist villages in Alexandria also reached 43 in 2024, according to data from Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
The database compiled by Zawia3 identified 78 beach leasing tenders in Alexandria between 2015 and 2024, issued for rental or usufruct purposes. It also shows that in 2021, the General Administration of Financial Affairs (Contracts Department) offered six public beaches in Alexandria for public auction — to be used for usufruct rights or water-sport concessions.
In 2016, the Central Administration for Tourism and Resorts in Alexandria awarded a leasing contract for the Borg El-Arab (Bourivage) Tourist Beach to Dubai for Tourism Investment Company for approximately 15 million Egyptian pounds ($312,500). The same year, it awarded the Stanley Tourist Beach lease to Crash for Tourism Development Company for about 4 million Egyptian pounds ($83,000). Both contracts included an annual 10 percent rent increase for a period of three years.
The following year, the Central Administration announced a sharp rise in beach rental prices — up to 50 percent on some beaches and 100 percent on others compared to the previous year (2024).
Satellite imagery analysis conducted between 2013 and 2025 shows that several tourism projects have taken over public beaches and reclaimed parts of the sea. For instance, the Four Seasons San Stefano Hotel — owned by the Talaat Moustafa Group — has taken exclusive control of the beach opposite the San Stefano Grand Plaza complex. Official statistics confirm that no private beaches existed in Alexandria before 2013.
The spread of investments has not only consumed public beaches but also extended into the sea, occupying natural sand tongues and shallow coastal areas — such as those now hosting the hotel suites and beachfront villas of the Four Seasons San Stefano.
The Gleem Promontory, originally built as a coastal barrier to protect the beach from erosion, has been transformed from a public seaside walkway — once open to everyone — into a crowded zone of restaurants and cafés. The area has since been rebranded as a tourism complex called “Gleem Bay”, sparking widespread anger among Alexandria residents, who long regarded it as the “poor man’s refuge.”
Many of the newly constructed establishments were not built from wood, as required by environmental guidelines for construction within the restricted coastal zone. Some of them even rise multiple stories high, in direct violation of those standards.
Near the Teachers’ Club Beach, another seaside jetty was converted into a restaurant and café district, involving land reclamation and partial filling of the sea, alongside the expansion of facilities for the Golden Jewel Hotel, which overlooks the Mediterranean directly. The hotel now features a private beach, water park, outdoor pools, and several restaurants, further restricting public access to the shoreline.
In the Montazah area, new facilities were built in 2023 as part of the Montazah Bay Beach complex, including the removal of several green areas and trees from the coastal promontory. The entrance ticket to the beach is 350 Egyptian pounds ($7.30) per person, which includes access to the adjoining gardens.
Private beach services have also expanded significantly in front of the Rixos Montazah Hotel, which opened in 2025, taking over large portions of the former public shoreline. According to satellite imagery, part of the public garden was also repurposed for the construction of the Helnan Maamoura Hotel, built in 2022 near the Maamoura Premium Beach. The images show that a swimming pool was built on the same spot where a dense area of trees stood in 2013.
The Montazah Palace Gardens themselves underwent major changes under a development project valued at around 5 billion Egyptian pounds ($104 million). The project included the creation of four artificial lakes covering 31,000 square meters, and the construction of the Paradise Tourist Village. Designed to overlook the sea from three sides, the project spans a total area of 24,000 square meters, and includes three swimming pools with a combined surface area of 810 square meters.
Said expresses frustration over the dominance of tourism investors along Alexandria’s beaches and the growing restrictions imposed on fishermen’s access to the Corniche, where café owners now charge entry fees or membership subscriptions in certain areas — particularly between Saba Pasha and Sidi Gaber.
“We can’t enter areas like San Stefano, Tuleip, or Al-Mahrousa, because hotels and resorts have taken over,” he says. Entry fees for these tourist zones, he adds, “can reach up to 100 Egyptian pounds ($2.10).”
Said concludes, “The Corniche should go back to how it used to be — it should belong to all Egyptians, not just the privileged few.”
This investigation was produced with the support of ARIJ – Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism.
