One of the leading hotels in a resort town loved by British and Russian tourists conforms to conservative Islamic precepts. For the inn's manager, Islamists can "better express themselves" now that men and women are segregated, booze is banned and photos of Shakira and Elvis Presley have been removed.

Cairo (AsiaNews/Agencies) - "Bikinis are welcome in Egypt and booze is still being served," Egypt's Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou said as he presented figures for the tourist sector in 2012. Yet, despite his resistance to the most intransigent demands by Salafist groups, the first Islamic hotel opened its doors in the westernised Red Sea resort town of Hurghada. For the owners of the 4Win Hotel, one of the town's main inns, the changeover was a business decision.

"At the moment, many Middle Eastern men won't come to Hurghada because they won't get the privacy they require," said 4Win's manager and co-owner, Abdelbasset Omar. "We're trying to fill that gap in the market."

"It gives me the chance to enjoy tourism in my own country in a way that does not contradict my beliefs," said one of the hotel's first guests, Abdel Rahman, an electronics engineer from Cairo. "Especially the privacy for women-they can enjoy swimming now with no problems."

Female guests will stay in fact on a segregated, women-only floor guarded by female security personnel, and will also have the option of swimming in a segregated pool.

The bar is alcohol-free, and pictures of Elvis Presley and Shakira have been removed from the walls. However, the transformation is not entirely complete: paid-for pornography channels have not yet been removed from the hotel's televisions.

"It's a smart move," said Adel Ibrahim, the owner of Canary Hotel, another Hurghada inn. "It'll attract conservative guests-both from the Gulf countries and from Egypt."

Tourism has always been one of the pillars of the Egyptian economy, representing 11.3 per cent GDP and employing about three million people.

The fall of Hosni Mubarak's regime in 2011 and the resulting climate of social and political instability have contributed to the dramatic collapse of the industry, with the number of visitors dropping from 15 to 10 million from 2010 to 2011.

In the institutional vacuum created by unrest in a country where most people are still very religious, Islamists have gained more and more ground.

With supporters chanting "Allah is great" at the 4Win reopening, Sheikh Khaled Saeed said that the inn now "helps better reflect a real image of Egyptian society."

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