Larache, Morocco—Malta-based Corinthia Hotels International (CHI) and Essential Developments, Isle of Man, have a technical assistance agreement and a 15-year management agreement for the new Wyndham Port Lixus Resort, a €58.4 million hotel project to be built by Essential Developments on the northern Atlantic coast of Morocco. The resort location is adjacent to the city of Larache and 40 minutes south of Tangier International Airport.

CHI will give its technical assistance and advice in the planning and design of the resort and will manage upon completion. The hotel will include a state-of-the-art spa, three restaurants, four bars that include a health bar and a tapas bar, and extensive landscape and water features within its 7-ha (17-acre) site.

The 418-room hotel project falls within the first phase of the Moroccan government-backed “Vision 2010” plan of turning the 470-ha (1,161-acre) historical Port Lixus area into an upscale tourist resort, complete with two 18-hole golf courses, a 700-berth marina, a 120-berth pleasure port with shopping and residential “Water Homes,” extensive sporting and leisure facilities and upscale hotels. Construction of Wyndham Port Lixus Resort is scheduled to start in April, with the hotel set to open its doors in June 2010.