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mattbellAs I came into Dahab, I passed a large number of beachside resorts and hotels in various states of completion. However, there was no evidence of construction in progress on any of them. The projects appear to have beeen abandoned. Some were close to completion, while others only had a partially erected stone wall to show for their efforts. Most of them were utterly hideous, architecturally speaking. Monsters in the making. At first I thought it was due to poor management, fraud, contractors taking the money and skipping town, and other problems. However, I ultimately realized the true cause: terrorism.
Back in 2004-6 there was a series of bombings at the three major resort towns on the Sinai coast. The bombings were masterminded by a Palestinian but were carried out with the help of local Bedouins. While I don't approve of their actions, I can see where the local Bedouins were coming from... their entire coastline has been taken over with nasty structures catering to obnoxious foreigners. (Not that the Bedouin terrorists were pulling a Howard Roark... I doubt that the architectural integrity of the structures was their chief concern). Since the Bedouins are nomadic, they can't lay claim to any of this coastal territory, and have gradually been pushed inward.
The attacks had the effect of almost completely cutting off the area's primary supply of tourists – Israelis in search of a little sun. The European tourists eventually returned, but the Israelis have stayed away. All the construction stopped, and demand still doesn't even fill the existing supply.
Ironically, only a couple of Israelis died in the bombings. The vast majority of the deaths (over 50, I believe) were Egyptian workers making a living in the tourist trade.
In any case, terrorism can have an extremely high return on investment. For the cost of a few tens of thousands of dollars, the terrorists managed to freeze up an entire industry in Egypt, causing billions of dollars in lost business. The Sept 11th attacks in the US were similar... for the cost of some flight lessons, they managed to provoke the US into a massive $2 trillion spending spree that has worsened our security and dramatically hurt our reputation across the world.
Back in 2004-6 there was a series of bombings at the three major resort towns on the Sinai coast. The bombings were masterminded by a Palestinian but were carried out with the help of local Bedouins. While I don't approve of their actions, I can see where the local Bedouins were coming from... their entire coastline has been taken over with nasty structures catering to obnoxious foreigners. (Not that the Bedouin terrorists were pulling a Howard Roark... I doubt that the architectural integrity of the structures was their chief concern). Since the Bedouins are nomadic, they can't lay claim to any of this coastal territory, and have gradually been pushed inward.
The attacks had the effect of almost completely cutting off the area's primary supply of tourists – Israelis in search of a little sun. The European tourists eventually returned, but the Israelis have stayed away. All the construction stopped, and demand still doesn't even fill the existing supply.
Ironically, only a couple of Israelis died in the bombings. The vast majority of the deaths (over 50, I believe) were Egyptian workers making a living in the tourist trade.
In any case, terrorism can have an extremely high return on investment. For the cost of a few tens of thousands of dollars, the terrorists managed to freeze up an entire industry in Egypt, causing billions of dollars in lost business. The Sept 11th attacks in the US were similar... for the cost of some flight lessons, they managed to provoke the US into a massive $2 trillion spending spree that has worsened our security and dramatically hurt our reputation across the world.
