(No)Booze Cruise

In a move to be praised as much as the recent arrival of 40 Iranian tourists for a week, then banning them again,  the saviour for an already-failing tourism industry is apparently to alienate foreigners even more. A few days ago, Hurghada said hello to its first “Islamic” hotel which doesn’t serve alcohol AND segregates women from men.

Yasser Kamal, the owner of the this unique venture, told the press:

"Tourists have alcohol in their countries, and they must find other alternatives in Hurghada for the purpose of diversity,"  before adding that the hotel is open for all nationalities and both Muslim and Christian Egyptians.

He also mentioned that the top floor of the hotel will be reserved for women only, with female security staff on patrol to make sure no pesky penises sneak up there. The good news does not stop there. To celebrate the world’s stupidest idea, they had an opening ceremony that will probably be described as a spooky religious ritual when the foreign press get a hold of this story, lining up bottles of alcohol on a bar and smashing them to the ground.

They even got a Sheikh to speak at the inauguration to seal the religious deal.

The best way to measure if this approach will work is to look at the Saudi Arabia's booming beach tourism industry... Oh, wait...