09-Feb-2009
Vision3, an alliance between Bahrain's Gulf Finance House & Ithmaar Bank and UAE's Abu Dhabi Investment House, has signed Dh6.61 billion deal to build a health resort property in Essaouira on Morocco's Atlantic coast. Essaouira is a well-known and popular tourist haven, which boasts a UNESCO World Heritage listing owing to 18th century fortified town.
Mohammed Khalil Aalsayed, Board Member of Vision3 & Chief Executive, Ithmaar Development Company, said, "Vision3 would develop the mixed-use resort, known as Dulmunia, over a 270-hectare site and completion was expected in 5 to 6 years. The Dilmunia project targets different categories of tourism and focuses, as a key objective, on attracting health tourism, not only from Morocco and the greater North African region but also from, among others, mainland Europe."
Essaouira is known for its growing number of boutique hotel properties established in riads - traditional Moroccan houses known for their interior gardens, while hotels are being built along the beach. With a target to attract 10 million tourists next year, up from a little over 8 million last year, the Moroccan government has been eager to lure investors from the Gulf to develop projects.
