Taba Hotel & Nelson Village

Taba Hotel & Nelson Village
Newly rebuilt, Hilton Taba.
Former names Sonesta Hotel & Kfar Nelson
General information
Location Egypt Taba, Egypt
Opening November 1, 1982
Owner Deutsche Hospitality
Management Steigenberger Hotels
Other information
Number of rooms 400
Website
Official website

The Taba Hotel & Nelson Village (Arabic: هيلتون طابا‎) is a resort hotel in Taba, Egypt. Built between 1979 and 1982, it was the stumbling block in negotiations between Israel and Egypt over the final border between the two countries. After months of negotiation and a decision by the UN to grant Egypt the tiny strip of land, the hotel was finally sold to Egyptians and then later became part of the Hilton brand.

History

Eliyahu Paposchado built the property as the Aviya Sonesta Beach Hotel (Hebrew: בית מלון סונסטה‎) beginning in 1979, six kilometres (4 miles) from Eilat and next to Raffi Nelson's Kfar Nelson (Hebrew: כפר נלסון‎), while the Sinai was under Israeli control. It was immediately considered one of Israel's premier hotels and would later prove to be a problem in the ensuing talks between the two nations. After the peace agreements were signed between the two nations, the status of the hotel and village were to be decided on future negotiations. In 1986, an international panel ruled that the land would be returned to Egypt, but that Israelis would be free to visit the tiny strip without paying a tax (to this day tourists do not pay a tax when travelling between Eilat and the hotel). In January, 1989 the hotel and adjacent village was turned over to Egypt.[1] Remnants of the hotel's past are still prominent within the hotel. On the bottom floor, there is an 8.5 metres (28 ft) high wall relief, made in 1980–81 with a Hebrew inscription by the Jerusalem sculptor, Daniel Kafri. The hotel became the Hilton Taba in 1990.[2]

Hilton Taba (view from the Gulf of Aqaba)

It was very popular with Israeli tourists until it was targeted by terrorists in 2004. Thirty four people died and hundreds were wounded in that attack. Since then, the hotel has undergone major renovations and has seen a drastic drop in Israeli tourists. Hilton Hotels International denied liability to the victims of the terror attack on its grounds and refused to compensate its guests. As of 2008, wrongful death and negligence litigation commenced by hundreds of plaintiffs against Hilton was still pending both in Florida State Court and in New York's Southern District Court.[3]

In 2017, the hotel was purchased by Deutsche Hospitality, renovated, and reopened operated by Steigenberger Hotels and Resorts as the Taba Hotel & Nelson Village.[4]

See also


References

  1. ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/02/27/israel-egypt-sign-accord-on-return-of-taba-resort/f6598415-44b9-4e5d-928e-a17cd0b978b4/
  2. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/28/world/taba-journal-a-sandy-corner-of-egypt-sadly-misses-its-israelis.html
  3. ↑ ehotelier.com. "Hilton Asked to Compensate Sinai Victims. | ehotelier.com News Archives". Ehotelier.com. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
  4. ↑ DeutscheHospitality.com (Deutsche Hospitality takes over two further hotels in Egypt;). "Hilton Asked to Compensate Sinai Victims". DeutscheHospitality.com. Retrieved 2017-06-02;. Check date values in: |accessdate=, |date= (help)

Coordinates: 29°29′25″N 34°53′58″E / 29.4904°N 34.8994°E / 29.4904; 34.8994

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.