| El Gouna | |
| Settlement Type: | town |
| Area Note: |
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(الجونة pronounced as /elˈɡuːnæ/, "the Lagoon") is an Egyptian tourist city created in 1990, and is owned and developed by Samih Sawiris' Orascom Development.[1] It is located on the Red Sea in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt, 20km (10miles) north of Hurghada. It is part of the Red Sea Riviera, and a host city of the El Gouna Film Festival.[2]
27.385°N 33.6792°WEl Gouna has 10 kilometers of coastline and consists of 20 islands surrounded by lagoons. The town is 25 kilometers away from the Hurghada International Airport.
El Gouna's buildings were designed by European and American architects to resemble traditional rural Egyptian architecture such as that found in the Egyptian countryside and in Nubian villages. El Gouna specializes in watersports. There are several beaches including Zeytuna Beach (Arabic: شاطئ زيتونة) located on its own island, Mangroovy Beach, Moods Beach and other hotel beaches.
There are three main areas in El Gouna, Downtown, Tamr Henna Square (Arabic: ميدان تمر حنة) and the Abu Tig Marina (Arabic: مارينا أبو تيج). It also has El Gouna Mosque and a Coptic Orthodox church, the Church of St. Mary and the Archangels.
In 2017 an annual film festival was established, the El Gouna Film Festival.[3] Founded by telecom billionaire Naguib Sawiris,[4] El Gouna Film Festival was previously attended by globally prominent celebrities including Grey's Anatomy's Patrick Dempsey,[5] Rambo's Sylvester Stallone[6] and Bottle Rocket’s Owen Wilson.[7]
The weather in El Gouna is sunny all year long. Temperatures range between 17°C and 33°C. Humidity is 22% on average.[8] Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh).