Tourism: Alexandria

Reuters

Alexandria, the Egyptian coastal city where Cleopatra had love affairs with Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, is trying to regain some of its old glory as a tourism destination for European and Arab elites.

This summer, a new luxury hotel opened on the site of a grand old establishment where Austrian archdukes and Egyptian khedives would gather for Viennese pastries or tennis a century ago. Last year a multi-storey mall with brands such as Guess and LaSenza opened to the public, and the city is building a new international airport to meet demand from tourists. With Egypt's economy recording its third consecutive year of gross domestic product growth over 5 percent, an oil-fuelled boom in Gulf economies bringing more tourists, and European economies strong, the city is already enjoying some success.

"Alexandria has been so neglected over the past decades but there is a still a lot of nostalgia for the way it used to be," said Stephan Killinger, manager of the new Four Seasons San Stefano hotel. The hotel, built overlooking the Mediterranean on the model of its famous predecessor, has been sold out since opening in July, Killinger said.

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