The Uruguayan Government has unveiled its initiative to renovate the Hotel Casino Carmelo, included in the national strategy to promote domestic and international tourism. Through international investments, the Colonia facility would be converted into a five-star hotel casino.
German Cardoso, Minister of Tourism, said: “I’m an optimistic man and I know we’ll come out [of this situation] very soon. This Department has many projects.” He also shared that they’re working on the “Call for International Interest” to begin with the casino bidding process.
“We’ve talked with President Luis Lacalle Pou and this already received the green light,” said Cardoso about the casino, which is a project initiated by the Ministry of Tourism. The goal, he explained, is to return to the positive developments that Uruguay was experiencing before the pandemic.
In addition, the national Government also approved a project in Rocha that will include a casino hotel with 150 luxury rooms and a convention center. It will also include construction work around the Andreoni canal to divert sea pollution into Laguna Merín and recover local beaches.
Both casinos join a general plan to reactivate the tourism sector, one of the “most affected by the pandemic,” joined also by another one in Atlántida, aiming to “turn the city into a new Punta del Este”.
This week, the Ministry also signed the concession for Italy’s Cipriani Group to operate a casino in the former Hotel San Rafael, in Punta del Este. The company’s plan is to build a tourist complex in the area.
