Demand for Orascom Development Holding’S (ODH) El Gouna remained strong in Q2 2020, marking a 27.4% rise in total sold and reserved units versus the year-ago period, with total sales and presales hitting EGP 924.58 mn, Invest-Gate reports.

During the April-June period, contractual and reservation contracts stood at EGP 802.21 mn and EGP 122.37 mn, respectively, ODH confirmed in a recent press release, pointing to its plans to deliver 254 houses in El Gouna’s Abu Tig Hill, Tawila, Ancient Sands, Cyan, and Sabina neighborhoods, located on the Red Sea Coast.

“Delays in converting the pending reservations to contracts resulted from the social distancing procedures put in place for the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Egypt-based developer underlined.

“ODH is continuing to speed up the construction pace in El Gouna, deploying 100% capacity at the construction sites, complemented by all the necessary precautionary and safety measures. The company increased its construction budget for the destination this year to [almost EGP 1.2 bn], which is expected to generate real estate revenues within the range of [EGP 1.9-2.1 bn] for 2020,” read the statement.

As for the city’s hotels, following the recently-released government precautionary measures that allowed hotels to reoperate under strict sanitation and hygiene regulations, along with limited occupancy, ODH revealed that its health and sanitation protocols were recently audited and confirmed by Germany-based TÜV Nord.

“This confirmation reflected positively on the international booking trend and will continue to reflect positively on ODH’s hotels forward booking,” the statement concluded.