It has a coastline legendary for its diving, nomadic culture and an ancient island port with houses built of coral, but Sudan's Red Sea is proving a hard sell, despite Khartoum's high hopes.
On the corniche in Port Sudan, youths play snooker, smoke water pipes and watch cargo ships unloading in the docks, during a mild evening in early December, peak season for the country's top holiday destination.
There is barely a foreigner in sight.
Diving boats serving the more adventurous holidaymakers are moored in the harbour, waiting to explore the rich marine life, spectacular shipwrecks, or the remains of French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau's bizarre experiment in underwater living.
Lorenzo Orso, who runs the Don Questo diving ship, says he's been losing money ever since 2009, when the global economic crisis hit, and the International Criminal Court charged President Omar al-Bashir with crimes against humanity in Darfur.
“In the last three seasons we're just trying to recover our costs. Sudan has been facing various troubles. After the separation, we also had all the problems in Egypt, so people were afraid to fly through Cairo,” he said.
South Sudan seceded from the north in July, taking with it 75 percent of the county's oil production - exported via pipeline terminals just south of Port Sudan - and forcing the cash-strapped government to frantically cast around for other sources of income.
The then deputy minister of tourism Ali Mahjub Atta was quoted by state media in September as saying that 550,000 tourists visited Sudan last year, generating total revenues of $616 million.
In the same period, 15 million holidaymakers travelled to Egypt.
Atta forecast that the number of tourists visiting Sudan, along with tourism receipts, would rise by 20 percent in 2011, with the political turmoil in other Arab countries encouraging them to choose “more secure” destinations.
But instead, it is an abject lack of security that comes to the minds of most westerners when they think about Sudan, as Imran, a Sudanese woman running a resort 30 kilometres north of here, admits.
“The foreigners are nervous to come. Some friends of mine were visiting from Holland, and when they got off the plane in Khartoum they thought they would be shot at. This is not the case. This is crazy!” she says.
While the Sudanese capital is indeed far removed from the conflict in the western region of Darfur, or the embattled southern states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan, the Red Sea region is hardly a haven of peace and tranquillity.
In early April, two AH-64 Apache helicopters flew in from the Red Sea and unleashed a barrage of Hellfire missiles and machinegun fire on a car travelling from Port Sudan's airport, according to the foreign ministry.
The attack was widely thought to have been carried out by Israel, whose officials refused to comment but have previously expressed concern about arms smuggling through Port Sudan.
Other factors blocking Sudan's growth as an international holiday destination include the Islamist government's ban on alcohol and US sanctions that prevent the use of Western credit cards - which Rowida Farouk, assistant manager of the Coral Hotel, Port Sudan's finest, describes as a “disaster.”
But rich rewards await those determined to visit the Sudanese coast, both above and below the water.
Some 30 kilometres south, past the tents of Beja camel herders, one of Sudan's most distinctive indigenous ethnic groups, lies the mysterious island of Suakin.
A gateway for African pilgrims travelling to Mecca down the ages, Suakin was also a thriving trading port during the era of the Ottomans, whose houses were built of coral blocks.
Ferries still run to Jeddah from across the bay, but the island itself now looks like it's been hit by an earthquake, abandoned to decay after the construction of Port Sudan by the British in the early 20th century.
A Turkish company is finally restoring some of the ruined Ottoman buildings, while the village on the mainland, El-Geyf, is a hive of Beja activity, with its bustling market, its sword-clad men and its stray goats roaming the dusty streets.
Louay, the manager of Port Sudan's Palace Hotel, says the state's governor, Mohmed Tahir Eilla, has done a huge amount to open up the region, including lifting the need for a permit to travel outside the city last month.
“Since his appointment in 2006, the governor has changed everything... He's doing his best. But he's tied with a very limited budget,” he says.
But Lorenzo, the skipper of the Don Questo, believes the challenges are much bigger than just the size of the budget allocated to the Red Sea state.
“Even though the governor wants to make money out of tourism, the problem is that so many others don't really care, or they don't really know what to do.
“They just want to fill up their pockets with a few coins, rather than turn it into an industry making millions each year.” - Sapa-AFP