021, Cyprus’ first integrated resort worth €550m will open its doors to the public, after further details on the project were announced earlier this week.

Representatives from the Melco-CNS consortium presented their final plans regarding the City of Dreams – Mediterranean, to the region’s President Nicos Anastasiades.

Anastasiades expressed his excitement in the project, and whilst it is an ambitious one, he assured that the “benefits for the country certainly outnumber any negative consequences”.

The resort is expected to attract 300,000 tourists per year and create around 11,000 jobs.

Furthermore, according to an economic impact study produced by PwC, the impact to Cyprus’ economy after the second year of the casino’s operation will reach approximately €700m per year, approximately 4% of the country’s annual GDP.

The huge resort will also feature a five-star hotel with luxury villas and 500 hotel rooms, 11 restaurants and cafeterias, a retail area, wellness centre and sports centre.

Melco’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lawrence Ho, commented: “I am proud that the Cypriot government has entrusted Melco and CNS to build Cyprus’s first Integrated Resort which will place Cyprus on the world tourism map and attract visitors, not just from the surrounding region but also from the whole of Europe and around the world.

“In the same way as we delivered in Macau and the Philippines, we build with local partners, invest in extraordinary world-first architecture and design, create sophisticated entertainment experiences, and embed state-of-the-art technology into everything we do.”

Melco has a 70.74% stake in the project, with local GNS Group holding 29.26% of the consortium's shares.