Egypt Advances Mount Sinai Mega Tourism Project Amid Heritage, Bedouin Opposition

Egypt's ambitious Great Transfiguration Project aims to transform the Mount Sinai region, a site sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims and home to the historic St. Catherine’s Monastery, into a major luxury tourism hub by 2028. The project includes the construction of hotels, shopping complexes, a cable car, and airport expansion designed to boost tourism and economic recovery, targeting 30 million visitors. However, it has sparked international concerns from UNESCO, heritage organizations, religious leaders, and the local Bedouin communities, particularly the Jebeleya tribe, over the irreversible impact on the area's spiritual, cultural, and environmental integrity. The Bedouin have faced forced relocations, demolition of homes and eco-tourism camps, and even removal of graves to make way for development, fueling accusations of state violence and top-down imposition without their consent. Despite diplomatic efforts between Egypt and Greece to protect the monastery’s religious mission, critics warn that the project threatens to erase the traditional Bedouin way of life and the unique heritage of this UNESCO World Heritage site. The controversy highlights the tension between economic development ambitions and the preservation of one of the world's most sacred landscapes and its indigenous inhabitants.