SKOPJE (Macedonia), October 3 (SeeNews) – Portuguese hotel and construction company Aquapura said on Wednesday it had started the construction of a 50 million euro ($70.9 million) hotel and spa centre at the Prespa lake resort in Macedonia.
“The centre is situated in Oteshevo at Prespa lake on 50 hectares and is expected to open its doors for its first guests in 2011,” a company official who declined to be named told SeeNews.
The resort will comprise a boutique hotel with 50 to 70 rooms and some 50 to 70 villas, the company added.
“We are planning to invest in a ski resort in the future,” the official added, without elaborating.
In December 2006, the company announced 200 million euro ($283.6 million) investments in seven developments all over the world by the year 2011. Among them was Prespa and others in Brazil, Italy, Czech Republic and two in Portugal.
The government in Skopje believes Macedonia's tourism industry offers considerable investment opportunities, even though the sector now operates below capacity due to lack of investment and marketing promotion.
In June, the British Business Group (BBG) unveiled plans to build 10 golf courses in Macedonia with an estimated total value of 35 million euro, seeking to help develop the country's tourism sector to its full potential. The BBG is a lobby group that operates in Macedonia and promotes the strengthening of business ties between the country and the UK.
The number of tourists staying in Macedonia in July rose by 11.4% on the year to 108,870. Most foreign tourists who visited the landlocked state of two million people came from Serbia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Croatia.
Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Macedonia fell month-on month to $9.86 million in June from $10.28 million a month before, central bank data indicated.
Aquapura is a privately held company from Portugal registered in 2002 with its main field of activities the construction of hotels, villas and spas.
Prespa lake is situated in the southwest part of the ex-Yugoslav country of nearly two million people. Other popular Macedonian tourist sites include the lakeside towns of Struga and Ohrid, the Popova Sapka ski resort, the Mavrovo national mountain park and Polaki hunting range.
The country was granted candidate country status by the European Council in December 2005 but has received no date for the start of its EU accession negotiations yet.
($ = 0.7052 euro)