Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has entered into a joint venture with Nile City Investments Company (‘NCIC’) to manage a 552-room luxury hotel currently being developed on the Nile River in central Cairo, Egypt. FHR and Kingdom Hotel Investment Group (‘KHI’), will each invest approximately $10 million for an equity interest of approximately 15% each in the property. ‘The Fairmont Cairo, Nile City’ is scheduled to open in spring 2006 and will be part of the Nile City development, one of the city and region’s most prestigious office and retail projects.

“Cairo is one of the most important commercial and tourism centres in the Middle East, and we are delighted to expand our portfolio to include a luxury property here,” commented Mr. William R. Fatt, Chief Executive Officer of FHR. “This new property and our strategic partnerships on the project will assist us in continuing to build on the success of The Fairmont Dubai and grow Fairmont’s brand strength across the region.”

The Fairmont Cairo will be located on a prime site overlooking the Nile, just 30-minutes from the Sphinx and great Pyramids at Giza. The hotel will become the third tower in the Nile City complex, which also contains 100,000 sq. m. of office space, 11,000 sq. m. of retail space, a cineplex and restaurants, featured in two existing 34-storey towers. The Fairmont Cairo will include four restaurants, four bars and lounges, a business center, meeting space and potential access to retail and office space. Prime space on the rooftop of the 24th floor overlooking the Nile and the Pyramids will include one of the restaurants, an outdoor swimming pool, a hot tub and outdoor function space.

Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, is known for its role as a hub of tourism, industry and trade. Egypt hosted a record six million tourists in 2003, up 20 percent from 2002 and setting a record in the history of Egyptian tourism. Egypt’s economy is expected to grow by 4.8 per cent in fiscal 2003/4, helped in part, by these surging tourist numbers. Among Arab countries, Egypt’s GDP is second only to Saudi Arabia’s.
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