Saudi royal set to invest $300m in Turkish hotels

A member of Saudi Arabia’s ruling family plans to invest $300m into a Turkish hotel chain, a newspaper report has claimed.

Bander bin Fahd al-Fehaid, who is also chairman of the Arab Tourism Organisation (ATO), will invest the cash into the ‘My Tuana’ chain, eventually taking the number of its hotel properties in Turkey to 20, according to Hurriyet Daily News.

Turkish businessman Mehmet Yücel, who is reportedly al-Fehaid’s partner in the scheme, told the paper that a deal for four hotels has been agreed, while talks for another seven properties were progressing.

“The chain will grow to 50 hotels in five years. Some of the hotels will be built from scratch,” Yücel told the publication. He added that all of the hotels would be five star.

The ‘My Tuana’ properties are said to cater for the so-called ‘health tourists’, providing spa and wellness services.

“All of the ‘My Tuana’ hotels will feature salt rooms, salt treatments, salt massage, salt water therapy,” al-Fehaid added. “We combine salt treatment with thermal water treatment.”

Al-Fehaid is also reportedly in talks with Arab investors for a potential $2bn thermal tourism project in the Turkish city of Bursa, which would become the largest such complex in the country when completed.

Turkey’s Tourism Ministry reported earlier this week that the number of foreigners visiting the country rose 0.6 percent year-on-year to 980,000 in January.