A new state-sponsored project is underway to transform a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Egypt’s Sinai desert into a luxury resort. Launched in 2021, the Great Transfiguration Project aims to attract millions of tourists with new hotels, eco-lodges, a cable car to Mount Sinai, and an expanded local airport. Cairo presents it as “Egypt’s gift to the entire world and all religions”.
In 2024, Egypt’s Housing Minister pledged that the project would preserve the environmental, visual, and heritage character of the area’s pristine nature.
The reality, however, is proving to be more problematic. The Jebeleya Bedouin community, known as the guardians of St Catherine’s Monastery, is strongly opposed to the development. Their homes and eco-camps have been demolished with little to no compensation to make way for luxury hotels, villas, and shopping bazaars. Even cemeteries have been removed to make way for a car park.
📩 Today I sent a letter to @UNESCO regarding the Holy Monastery of #Sinai, ahead of the October elections and 🇪🇬Egypt’s candidacy for the leadership of UNESCO. I expressed serious concerns about the challenge posed by the Egyptian authorities to the monastery’s ownership status. pic.twitter.com/feKjQQV04Q
— Νικόλας Φαραντούρης / Nikolas Farantouris (@NFarantouris) September 2, 2025
British traveller Ben Hoffler told the BBC the project is a ‘top-down’ development that serves ‘the interests of outsiders over those of the local community’, fundamentally changing the Bedouin’s place in their homeland.
At the heart of the conflict stands St Catherine’s Monastery, the world’s oldest active Christian monastery, founded in the sixth century. Long protected from overtourism, the monastery and the nearby Mount Sinai (Jabal Musa) – where, according to the Bible and the Quran, God spoke to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments– are revered by Christians, Muslims and Jews alike. The monastery houses a small mosque and boasts one of the world’s greatest collections of early Christian manuscripts.
Visitor numbers to the Sinai have fluctuated due to political instability, terror attacks, the Arab Spring, the pandemic, and, since 2023, the Gaza war. The administration currently views luxury development at St Catherine as a means to increase hard currency earnings, with an objective of drawing in 30 million visitors by 2028. However, this push for ‘industrial tourism’ is in conflict with the local Bedouin community, who until recently managed the region’s tourism.
In an interview with the BBC, Egyptian journalist Mohannad Sabry explains that the Bedouin have been “pushed out – not just pushed out of the business, but physically pushed back… into the background”. Work on the construction site at St Catherine’s is expected to be staffed by Egyptians from other parts of the country.
The situation has also created tensions with Greece, which views the monastery as part of its spiritual heritage. The Archbishop of Athens, Ieronymos II, has described the move as an ‘existential threat’, and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem has reminded investors that the holy site, over which it has ecclesiastical jurisdiction, was granted a letter of protection by none other than the Prophet Muhammad himself. He described the monastery as “an enshrinement of peace between Christians and Muslims, and a refuge of hope for a world mired by conflict”.
In 2023, UNESCO requested that Egypt halt work until a conservation plan could be agreed upon. Instead, it was forced to add the site, in July, to the list of World Heritage Sites in Danger. King Charles, patron of the St Catherine Foundation, described it as ‘a great spiritual treasure that should be maintained for future generations’.
For now, construction continues. If the project unfolds as planned, the fragile landscape of the Sinai and its rare biodiversity will be reshaped forever, and St Catherine’s appeal – its remoteness and sanctity – will be lost forever.
