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El Gouna (الجونة el-Gūna, "The Lagoon") is a resort town located on the Red Sea in the Red Sea Governorate of Egypt, just north of Hurghada. It dates back to 1990 and was developed and is owned by the Sawiris family through Orascom Hotels and Development. El Gouna is know for being Egypt's most environmentally friendly vacation destination, and the first carbon neutral town in the MENA region.

History, geography, and architecture
El Gouna is located 25 kilometers north of Hurghada and is accessed primarily from the Hurghada International Airport, with smaller private planes being accommodated by a smaller airport in El Gouna. It was originally founded by Samih Sawiris as a vacation spot for him and his family, chosen as the coast had a rich coral reef. The town was modeled after Venice, Italy, one of Sawiris' favorite cities. As the shore of the Red Sea on the Egyptian side has no natural lagoons, the town had to be carved out of the desert. Canals, artificial islands, peninsulas, and lagoons were dug by hand to create the landscape of the town. A network of canals allow many houses to have their own strip of beach, even hundreds of metres inland. Most of these canals are crossed by small stone bridges. There are three centralized areas in El Gouna, housing shops, bars and restaurants: Downtown, Tamr Henna square and the Abu Tig Marina.

Sawiris was the chief architect for the project, having an engineering diploma from the Technical University of Berlin. Sawiris also employed American architect Michael Graves, best known for his construction of Disney theme parks, to assist in designing some of the towns' hotels. The town also has a church, a mosque, schools, a hospital, and a museum. Once construction started in El Gouna, hotel chains such as Sheraton, Mövenpick, Club Med, and Steigenberger signed on to build hotels in the town. By 2001, the town covered 9.5 million square meters, had eight hotels, as well as 315 villas and apartments. Sawiris also built several companies to help maintain the town's services, including a private utilities company, a brewery, and a bottled water company. As the town of El Gouna grew, many people chose to make it their permanent home which caused the town to increase its services such as medical and education. It has a fully equipped hospital that can handle most medical treatments including dentistry, plastic surgery, pediatrics, ophthalmology and general surgery. It also features an intensive care unit and a decompression chamber in case of diving accidents. As of 2014, the town has 18 hotels as well as apartments that can be rented by tourists. The architecture of El Gouna is a blend of styles and colors with Egyptian, Italian, and American influences. In addition to Michael Graves, architects Alfredo Freda and Ramy El Dahan helped create the forms and heights of cones, dome ceilings, and the rest of the Nubian style buildings that include brick layered ceilings, rounded shape windows, and recesses. The apartments located in the Abu Tig Marina were designed by Freda with a Spanish and Yemeni style, containing mashrabiya windows. He then created the Villas in an Italian architecture style, using various details and colors and spacious floor areas.

A major overhaul of the town was coordinated by Samih Sawiris in 2014. He commissioned Aya Tarek, Ammar Abo Bakr, and other international street artists to pain murals on many of the towns' buildings. The murals were mainly concentrated in the downtown area behind the marina. The same year, El Gouna was dubbed the first carbon-neutral city in the MENA region. The town was already known for being Egypt's most environmentally friendly vacation destination, attaining Green Globe and Travelife certifications as well as becoming the Green Star Hotel Initiative pilot location. An agreement signed by the Egyptian Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs targeted El Gouna for carbon neutrality by prioritizing projects that include conservation of natural resources.

Desert Breath
El Gouna is also the site of a double-spiral extra-large piece of art that was created in the desert just outside of town. Created by the D.A.ST. Arteam, a group made up of three artists - Danae Stratou, sculptor, Alexandra Stratou, industrial designer, and Stella Constantinides, architect. The work, completed on March 7, 1997, covers an area of about 100,000 square meters. It consists of 89 protruding cones of gradually increasing size set in a spiral and another 89 depressed (incised) cones set in spirals. The sand dug out from the depressed cones was used to create the protruding cones, resulting in the displacement of 85.000 square meters of sand. At the center of the art piece used to be a body of water 30 meters in diameter which has since evaporated. The artwork is subject to natural erosion and in due course the area will revert to original desert plain. It is viewable by satellite pictures via Google Earth.

Prior to knowing its actual origin, viewers of the Desert Breath have often speculated that it was made by aliens. The popularity of the work of art resurfaced in 2014 in an internet forum on Google Earth, approximately 17 years after it was built.

Climate
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as hot desert (BWh).

Economy and tourism
El Gouna is located within a short drive of the Luxor Temple and Aswan. Day and overnight trips can be booked from El Gouna to the towns of Luxor, Aswan, Cairo, and Sinai, making it a destination for tourists from all over the world. Snorkling is one of the most popular activities in El Gouna, given the calmness of the Red Sea and the natural reef just off shore. Additional tourist activities include hot air balloon rides, scuba diving, and the renting of quad bikes and off-road jeeps. El Gouna also has two golf courses, one designed by Gene Bates and Fred Couples and another by Karl Litten.

El Gouna specializes in watersports, including scuba diving, windsurfing, kitesurfing, waterskiing, parasailing and snorkelling. There are two main beaches, Zeytuna Beach located on its own island and Mangroovy Beach. El Gouna also boasts of having one of the world's largest cable park which opened in February 2014. It can host beginners and professionals and adjust speeds between zero and 60 kph. The park was built on a man-made lagoon and includes a 300m Olympic standard slalom course.

El Gouna also has a small museum that has approximately 90 exhibits, including statue replicas and an exhibition hall of contemporary Egyptian paintings by Hussein Bikar) which opened in 1996. Other attractions/activities around town include a small aquarium, a go-kart track, a paintball arena, tennis courts, and horse stables.

Sporting events
El Gouna is home to El Gouna FC, an Egyptian football club that plays in the Egyptian Premier League since 2009. The team plays in El Gouna Stadium, one of the sites used for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifications. El Gouna is also the site of the El Gouna International, an annual men's squash tournament held in April of each year. Formed in 2010, the tournament is part of the PSA World Series, the highest level of men's squash competition. El Gouna Golf Club hosted the final tournament on the 2014 PGA EuroPro Tour in October 2014. Dubbed the Visit Egypt Tour Championship, the 54 hole tournament included 60 of the top money winners on the tour and was won by Elliot Saltman, earning him a spot on the PGA European Tour as well as £15,000. El Gouna was also a stop on the route of Egypt's 2014 Cross Egypt Challenge, a 3000 kilometer motorbike and scooter endurance race.

In addition to sporting events and tournaments, El Gouna has hosted a number of other high profile events, including the Top Model of the World event in both 2013 and 2014. It also hosted Miss Scuba UK in 2014.

Religion and education
El Gouna accomodates the two main religions in Egypt, Coptic Christian and Islam. The Church of St. Mary and the Archangels is the town's Coptic Church, inagurated on December 26, 2014. The location of the church was originally a 200 square meter tent that was used as a temporary structure for worship until the completion of the 650 square meter church. Masjid El Gouna was established in 2004 and is considered one of the most quaint mosques located in the Red Sea region.

As the town has many permanent residents, it has an international school that follows the British system of learning, with classes that go from kindergarten through secondary school. It also has institutions of higher education. The American University in Cairo has a marine biology department in El Gouna, and a satellite campus of the Technical University of Berlin. It also has a nursing school and a German hotel school.