n accor boosts hotel profile
Accor is adding four new hotels in Egypt over the next 18 months, its total number of rooms in thecountry to 900. A new property is to open in the resort of Taba in November, followed by others in Sharm El Sheikh, Cairo and Hurghada in 2000.
n giza to host millennium party
Egypt is celebrating the start of the new century with a sound-and-light concert at the Pyramids at Giza. The concert, with music by Jean-Michel Jarre, starts as the sun goes down on December 31 1999 and ends atsunrise on January 1 2000. The top of the Cheops Pyramid will be covered in gold as part of the celebration.
n ministry follows biblical path
Egypt’s tourism ministry has produced a booklet to mark the 2,000th year of Christianity. The publication traces the Biblical route followed by Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus as they fled from King Herod. The route takes in Sinai, Cairo and the Nile.
n four seasons plans opening
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is opening its first properties in Egypt – the 273-room Four Seasons Hotel Cairo, which will have a floating restaurant on a Nile cruise ship, and the Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh, which will have accommodation in 141 guestrooms, 112 chalets and 34 villas. Both are planned to open this year, but no dates have been set. A second Cairo hotel with 384 rooms is scheduled to open in 2000.The Aida opera, now an annual event in Egypt, is to be held from October 12-17 at the pyramids at Giza. There are no details of ticket prices yet.
The airport at Taba in Sinai has been upgraded to enable it to handle flights at any time of the day or night. New terminals at the international airport have capacity for up to 600 passengers an hour.