The new InterContinental resort on Egypt's Red Sea coast, and a $600 million development at the heart of Cairo, came under the spotlight when Six Continents Hotels highlighted its regional development plans at the MTF.

Creating a new location for leisure travellers, conferences and incentives, the 450-room InterContinental Garden Reef Resort Sharm El Sheikh will become the sixth InterContinental property in Egypt when it opens next month.

Opening in the first half of 2003, CityStars Heliopolis Cairo combines shopping, entertainment, office and residential facilities, as well new Inter-Continental and Holiday Inn hotels, and is the most dramatic development of its kind in the Middle East.

"The beautiful new InterContinental resort at Sharm El Sheikh, and the two new CityStars hotels, form part of a major development programme in Egypt where we will have 16 properties under management by the end of next year," said Raymond Khalife, president, Six Continents Hotels, Middle East and Africa.

The company boosted its Egyptian presence earlier this year by taking over management of three prestigious hotel properties in Alexandria. These are now operating as the InterContinental Windsor Palace Alexandria, the InterContinental Le Metropole Alexandria and the Holiday Inn Resort Alexandria.

Six Continents Hotels used the MTF 2002 to promote its spread of hotel brands, both within Egypt, and across the Middle East region where the company already manages 64 InterContinental, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn properties.

In Egypt, two more new InterContinental resorts open before the end of next year at Taba Heights and Soma Bay, while the country's fifth Holiday Inn Resort opens later this year at Taba.

The InterContinental Garden Reef Resort Sharm El Sheikh will become an important venue for conventions and seminars.

Offering a multi-purpose main conference area, four smaller meeting rooms and a business centre, the resort also features a 350-seat all day restaurant, Oriental and Italian restaurants, and beach and lobby bars.

It will feature a health and leisure club, eight tennis courts, two basketball courts, and free-form swimming pools.