(Photo from Red-Sea Bike Parades , trips & short rides Facebook page)
During the past few weeks, all over social media websites, pictures have been surfacing of foreign and Egyptian residents of the Red Sea Governorate with signs saying “we are safe in Hurghada/ El Gouna.” Those images were attempts from them to get tourists to come to the Red Sea. Ever since the current political turmoil in Egypt and application of curfew, followed by negative travel advice from several European countries, tourism fell to an all-time low.
Hurghada, which is normally teeming with tourists at this time of the year, is eerily quiet. Normally, the month of September is a good month to visit the area; it is not too hot with the occasional light breeze. It is also the perfect time for diving since the water is still very warm.
To encourage tourists to visit, Karim Elmotayam, the main vocalist of Scream Band and a “Harley enthusiast”, came up with a Red-Sea Bike Ride which will take place on 8 September. The event is organised by Human Eye TV, owned by Mirko Rybka, who provided us with more information. “Clean up your ride, and join us for the first bike parade in the Red Sea, to support Hurghada, and to show the world how safe our streets are,” says their Facebook event page.
“We want to take action to support tourism and to get some good news out of Egypt,” he explained. They want to stress on the idea that the Red Sea is a safe place. Anyone with a bike, scooter or buggy is invited to come. According to the Facebook event: “Each bike should have two flags, one for Egypt (you can also have your country flag), and one to advertise your own business.”
The whole event is free. “We don’t get any money from anyone, not even the sponsors. Everyone is volunteering their time and effort,” Rybka explained. The planned route for the bikers aims to cover a lot of ground. They are to meet at 2pm at the New Marina Boulevard in Hurghada and then go through the city’s streets, heading south to Sahl Hashish, “where a ride on the promenade is planned”. From there they will go back north to El Gouna, and then return to the New Marina. “It will be a half day event,” Rybka said.
At the New Marina, the bikers will be able to enjoy a concert sponsored by the event. “There will be five different performers from different genres such as pop, reggae, etc. They will be performing for three or four hours,” Rybka explained. The line up for the concert is: Ahmed Salam (Modern Music), the Russian duo Cherry Ladies Club (Pop), Hisham Hammad (Latin Music), Mansour (Commercial Rock), Karim Scream Band (Reggae, Afro & Latin). The concert will start at 6pm.
“We are expecting a minimum of 40 bikers, but it could be much more as our posts are going viral and the message is being spread fast,” Rybka explained. He also added that they have been getting very positive feedback.
At the end, the idea is to have fun with it as is the general atmosphere of the Red Sea.
