An Egyptian Developer Is Betting US$232 Million on a Moroccan Resort Nobody Finished
Morocco · TOURISM & INVESTMENT
Key Facts
- —Commitment A consortium led by Egyptian billionaire Samih Sawiris is investing €200 million (about US$232 million) over five years in the first phase of rebuilding the Mogador resort at Essaouira, on Morocco’s Atlantic coast.
- —Scope Phase one covers roughly 800 rooms across three hotels and a club, on a site of about 2.5 million square metres. A second phase of €100–150 million (about US$116–174 million) is expected to follow.
- —Partners The consortium pairs Sawiris’ Luxembourg-based investment company SOSTNT with the UAE’s Al Nowais Investments, Egypt’s Sunrise Resorts & Cruises and construction group Besix.
- —Status The group took full ownership of SAEMOG, the company managing the station, in late 2025 after clearance from Morocco’s Competition Council. Work on the site has resumed.
The man who built El Gouna out of Egyptian desert is spending €200 million (about US$232 million) to finish a Moroccan resort that two decades of plans never completed — and construction is moving again.
Mogador is the old name for Essaouira, the walled fishing port on Morocco’s Atlantic coast that has spent two decades as a favourite of surfers, musicians and weekenders from Marrakech. The tourism station that carries the name is a much larger scheme just outside the town — and one of the country’s most famously unfinished projects.
What is being built at Essaouira
The first phase commits €200 million (about US$232 million), deployed over five years. It covers roughly 800 rooms across three hotels and a club.
The rollout is staged. An initial 270 rooms are due by the end of 2027. A second hotel of 350 rooms is planned over four years, and a further 150 rooms sit inside a 300,000-square-metre leisure and retail village that also includes golf courses and about thirty boutique-hotel units.
A second phase, expected to cost between €100 million and €150 million (about US$116 million to US$174 million), is planned once the first is running. All conversions in this article use the European Central Bank’s reference rate of 31 August 2026, about €1 to US$1.16.
The longer-term master plan goes further still: renovation of the Sofitel Mogador that already operates on the site, three new beachfront hotels, a Club Med resort, a beach club and residential property. Morocco’s tourism ministry has previously put the full build-out at 3,700 beds and up to 20,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Who is behind it, and what they bought
Samih Sawiris is the developer behind El Gouna, the Red Sea resort town that grew from a stretch of Egyptian desert coast into a settlement with its own hospital, schools and airport. It is the reference point for everything he does.
His partners here are Al Nowais Investments of the United Arab Emirates, the Egyptian hotel operator Sunrise Resorts & Cruises, and Besix, the construction group that is a joint-venture partner of Orascom Construction. Sawiris invests through SOSTNT, his Luxembourg-based investment company.
Rather than assemble land, the consortium bought the project vehicle. In late 2025 it took full ownership of SAEMOG, the Moroccan company that manages the Essaouira Mogador station, in a deal cleared by Morocco’s Competition Council. Work on the site has since resumed, according to Moroccan press reports.
Sawiris has approached Morocco before. Orascom Development, the group he chairs, carried a separate Moroccan coastal scheme called Chbika, near Agadir, from the mid-2000s until the global financial crisis swept it aside. Moroccan coastal development has a long record of stalled plans, which is precisely what the consortium is betting against.
Why Morocco, and why now
Morocco is Africa’s most visited country and is getting busier. It received 19.8 million visitors in 2025, up 14 per cent on the previous year, and tourism accounts for about 7 per cent of the economy and roughly 850,000 direct jobs.
The government is targeting 26 million visitors by 2030, the year Morocco co-hosts the football World Cup with Spain and Portugal. Airports, rail and roads are all being expanded, which changes the arithmetic for coastal resorts: access has always been the constraint.
Essaouira also has something most resort sites do not — an existing identity. Its medina is UNESCO-listed, its Gnaoua music festival is internationally known, and it sits within reach of both Marrakech and Agadir. The consortium is betting the demand is now real enough to justify the build.
What it means for travellers and the town
For visitors, the practical effect is more rooms at the upper end of a town historically served by riads and small hotels. That broadens who can come, and changes the character of who does.
For Essaouira itself, the question is the one every successful small coastal town eventually faces. Development brings employment, and it brings pressure on housing, water and the pace of a place people came to for its slowness.
The scheme is at least bounded. The 2.5-million-square-metre footprint is defined, and the first phase is deliberately modest against it. Whether later phases stay proportionate is the part nobody can promise — coastal master plans have a habit of growing once the first hotels prove they can fill.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much is being invested at Essaouira?
The first phase commits €200 million (about US$232 million) over five years. A second phase of €100–150 million (about US$116–174 million) is expected to follow.
Who is in the consortium?
Samih Sawiris, investing through his Luxembourg-based company SOSTNT, alongside Al Nowais Investments of the UAE, Egypt’s Sunrise Resorts & Cruises and construction group Besix.
Has the project been approved?
Yes. The consortium’s full takeover of SAEMOG, the company managing the Mogador station, was cleared by Morocco’s Competition Council and completed in late 2025. Work on the site has resumed.
When will the first rooms open?
An initial 270 rooms are due by the end of 2027, with about 800 rooms across three hotels and a club planned for the first phase overall.
Why is Samih Sawiris associated with this kind of project?
He developed El Gouna on Egypt’s Red Sea coast into a self-contained resort town. An earlier Moroccan venture, the Chbika project near Agadir, stalled after the 2008 financial crisis.
Connected Coverage
Morocco’s build-out ahead of 2030 sits alongside its September elections and its recalibrated import policy. Gulf and Egyptian capital reshaping North African assets is part of Africa: The New Scramble, with more on our Northern Africa hub.
Sources
- billionaires.africa
- enterpriseam.com
- waya.media (citing Asharq Business)
- leseco.ma (Les Inspirations ÉCO)
- 7news.ma
- ecb.europa.eu (euro reference rate, 31 August 2026)
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