Green Sharm now: where to see Sharm’s eco-tourism shift
Green Sharm right now: what has actually changed in Sharm El Sheikh?
Sharm El Sheikh’s green makeover is no longer just a COP27-era slogan. In late June 2026, Egypt’s Cabinet Media Centre said 50 public- and private-sector projects had been completed under the Green Sharm programme, with total investments of about $19.9 million and an estimated 85,100 tonnes of greenhouse-gas emissions avoided. The programme, implemented with the Ministry of Environment, South Sinai Governorate and the United Nations Development Programme, is designed to turn Sharm into an integrated sustainable tourism city rather than simply add a few headline-grabbing green features.
For travellers from Egypt planning a Sinai escape, the interesting question is not whether Green Sharm exists on paper, but where you can actually see it now. The answer starts in three places: the road network and public realm inside Sharm El Sheikh, the city’s hotel and utility infrastructure, and the protected areas that define the destination’s identity, especially Ras Mohammed.
Start with Ras Mohammed, because that is where the next big eco-tourism move is heading
The clearest sign of where Green Sharm is going next is Ras Mohammed National Park. Official statements in June 2026 said the government is preparing investment plans for both Ras Mohammed and Abu Galum, while also pushing wider upgrades tied to biodiversity protection, visitor services and greener reserve management. At the same time, Minister of Local Development and Environment Manal Awad reviewed a specific project to develop Ghazlani Beach inside Ras Mohammed Reserve as an eco-tourism site built around the area’s natural assets.
That matters because Ras Mohammed is still the single most iconic nature outing from Sharm El Sheikh. If you want to understand the city’s eco-tourism push in one day trip, this is the place to watch. The state’s current approach is not only about attracting visitors; it is also about controlling environmental pressure through electronic permits, marine monitoring, stricter waste systems, and continued reef protection measures inside the protected areas.
In practical terms, travellers should think of Ras Mohammed as both a scenic outing and a test case for how Egypt now wants South Sinai tourism to work: more managed, more monitored and more conservation-led. If the Ghazlani Beach plan advances as outlined, it could become one of the most visible new stops for visitors looking for low-impact beach time inside a nationally important reserve rather than another standard resort shoreline.
What to know before you go to Ras Mohammed
Egypt’s Environment Ministry currently lists standard South Sinai protected-area visit fees at EGP 25 for an Egyptian visitor and EGP 25 for a small Egyptian car, while foreigners are listed at $5 per visitor and $5 for a small car. Children under seven are exempt. The same ministry page also notes that implementation of Ministerial Decree No. 360 of 2025 has been postponed for Ras Mohammed, Northern Islands, Erg and Fanous, so visitors should check the latest booking and fee details before setting out, especially if they are booking through the ministry’s protected-areas ticketing system.
Peace Park is another site to watch closely
The other name that keeps coming up in official briefings is Peace Park in Sharm El Sheikh. It already carries symbolic weight because it hosted COP27’s Green Zone, but it is now also part of the next phase of environmental investment discussions. In June 2026, officials reviewed proposed eco-investment projects there alongside plans in several nature reserves.
For readers looking for a “where to go” answer, Peace Park is less of a classic beach day and more of a place to track how Sharm’s public-facing green identity is being repackaged after COP27. If Ras Mohammed shows the nature-reserve side of the strategy, Peace Park represents the urban showcase side: a civic space meant to reinforce Sharm’s image as Egypt’s flagship sustainable resort city.
Inside the city, the green transition is already visible in transport and energy
Not every part of Green Sharm is dramatic enough for an Instagram photo, but some of the most important changes are the easiest to spot around town. Official updates say the programme covers 42 square kilometres of Sharm El Sheikh as well as marine and coastal zones in Ras Mohammed, Nabq and Abu Galum. Among the headline results announced in June 2026 were more than four megawatts of supported solar-power projects, 891 solar lighting poles, and total renewable-energy capacity in the city rising to around 55 megawatts, equal to nearly 18 percent of total electricity consumption.
That may sound technical, but it translates into very visible travel infrastructure. The Green Sharm platform says Sharm has expanded support for green transport through e-buses and electric-vehicle charging. Official South Sinai updates in May 2026 also referred to plans to operate five electric buses in cooperation with a private company, part of the broader move to cut emissions inside one of Egypt’s busiest resort cities.
For visitors, this means the “green city” pitch is not limited to hotel brochures. It increasingly includes the roads you use, the lighting you pass after dark, and the transport system Sharm is trying to build around cleaner mobility.
Hotels are where many travellers will feel the changes most directly
If you are staying in Sharm rather than just passing through, the hotel sector is one of the most tangible places where Green Sharm shows up. The project’s own public platform says hotel solar installations were funded through the programme, and official governorate updates in late 2025 said solar systems had already been installed in 12 hotels, with electricity-consumption reductions of up to 35 percent cited for efficiency-focused interventions. Egypt’s Cabinet Media Centre also linked Green Sharm funding to solar projects at hotels alongside the airport, museum, schools and hospitals.
This may not change your holiday itinerary in the same way a new beach or reserve trail would, but it does affect how Sharm is positioning itself competitively. For Egyptian travellers comparing Sinai weekend breaks, “sustainable resort city” is now part of the sales pitch alongside diving, beaches and winter sun.
Beyond the headline projects, the quieter shift is in reserve management
Some of the strongest recent signals are not about new attractions at all. Official environment briefings in June 2026 highlighted marine environmental monitoring, coral-reef protection, environmental sensitivity indicators, electronic reserve permits and the EcoMonitor app for marine-life tracking. Authorities also called for upgraded solid-waste systems in protected areas and four marinas in Sharm, wider use of treated wastewater for irrigating green spaces, and surveillance-camera systems to strengthen monitoring inside nature reserves.
That matters for anyone who loves Sharm for diving, snorkeling and reef trips. The eco-tourism push is not only about adding facilities; it is increasingly about putting limits, data and enforcement around fragile sites so that tourism growth does not damage the very assets people come to see.
So where should you go if you want to see Green Sharm now?
- Ras Mohammed National Park: still the essential outing, and now the focal point for the upcoming Ghazlani Beach eco-tourism development plan.
- Peace Park: a key urban symbol of post-COP27 green branding and a site under review for further eco-investment projects.
- Sharm’s hotel zones: where solar, efficiency and sustainability measures are being rolled out most directly across the tourism economy.
- The city itself: where solar lighting, greener mobility planning and electric-bus discussions show the public-infrastructure side of the transformation.
The bottom line for Egypt readers is simple: if you are heading to Sharm El Sheikh now, Green Sharm is most visible not in one single new attraction, but in the way the city is trying to connect protected nature, cleaner transport, greener hotels and tighter environmental management. And if the next phase unfolds as planned, Ras Mohammed’s Ghazlani Beach could become the most concrete new place to watch that strategy take shape on the ground.