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The city was founded in the early 20th century, and since the 1980s has been continually enlarged by
Egyptian and foreign investors to become the leading seashore resort on the Red Sea. Holiday villages
and hotels provide aquatic sport facilities for sailboarders, yachtsmen, scuba divers and snorkelers.
Hurghada stretches for about 36 km along the seashore, and it does not reach far into the surrounding
desert. The resort is a destination for Egyptian tourists from Cairo, the Delta and Upper Egypt, as well as
package holiday tourists from Europe, notably Italians, Russians, Czechs and Germans. Until a few years
ago it was a small fishing village. Today Hurghada counts 248,000 inhabitants and is divided into three
parts: Downtown (El Dahar) is the old part; Sekalla is the modern part, and El Korra Road is the most
modern part. Sakkala is the relatively modest hotel quarter. Dahar is where the town's largest bazaar, the
post office and the long-distance bus station are situated.
The city is served by the Hurghada International Airport with scheduled passenger traffic to and from
Cairo and direct connections with several cities in Europe. The airport has undergone massive
renovations to accommodate rising traffic. Hurghada is known for its watersports activities, nightlife and
warm weather. Daily temperature hovers round 30 degrees Celsius most of the year. Numerous
Europeans spend their Christmas and New Year holidays in Hurghada, primarily Germans and Italians |
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