Erbil to get first Mövenpick resort under Accor, KRD Holding deal

Erbil (IraqiNews.com) – Global hospitality giant Accor has inked a deal with Erbil-based KRD Holding to build a 150-room Mövenpick resort overlooking Gomaspan Lake in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, with an opening date of 2030. The Mövenpick Erbil Gomaspan Resort will be the brand’s first resort in the Kurdistan Region and second in Iraq, after the Mövenpick Hotel Al Zaytoon Baghdad. The proposed building, less than 30 minutes from Erbil’s city center, would have 150 rooms and suites, restaurants, cafes, a spa, a family leisure club, and indoor and outdoor swimming pools. The resort will also include over 1,300 square meters of meeting and event space, aimed at weddings, business meetings, conferences, and leisure travel. KRD Holding, the local development partner, is a diversified investment company based in Erbil that operates in real estate, tourism, hospitality, healthcare, transportation, consultancy, and entertainment. Its portfolio includes Visit Kurdistan, a tourist marketing campaign; Erbil City Bus, an urban transportation project; and companies that specialize in architecture, property management, hospitality, and infrastructure development. Raki Phillips, Accor’s Regional President for the Premium, Midscale, and Economy divisions in the Middle East, Africa, and Turkey, said that Erbil’s growing connectivity and domestic tourist industry make the Kurdistan Region an appealing location for development. He added that the agreement will launch a new lakeside hotel product and boost Accor’s footprint in Iraq. Daban Hamid, Deputy CEO of KRD Holding, said that the deal highlighted the company’s efforts to recruit worldwide hotel brands and encourage investment in the Kurdistan Region’s tourist infrastructure. Accor now runs one hotel in Iraq with about 260 rooms and has five more hotels under construction, totaling over 1,300 rooms. The Gomaspan project will broaden the group’s Iraqi portfolio outside Baghdad and Erbil’s main city-center hotel markets.