Paramount Hotels & Resorts, the Dubai-based company with the licensing rights for properties using the Hollywood producer’s brand, has signed an agreement to develop hotels and theme parks in Italy.
The company signed a memorandum of understanding with Italian firms Alpha Tours and Grand Hotel Via Vento during a ceremony in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta also visited the UAE to support the agreement, which the firms said would help boost the real estate and tourism sectors in Italy.
Owned by a consortium of investors from the UAE, US, UK and Russia, Paramount Hotels & Resorts was established in Dubai in 2012 and has an exclusive, long-term agreement with Paramount Licensing Inc, the licensing division of Paramount Pictures Corporation, to establish a chain of Paramount-branded hotels resorts and residences.
It already has partnered with developer Damac to build a Paramount-branded hotel and residences twin tower project in Dubai and a hotel in Riyadh.
The company said it had identified potential locations for hotels and theme parks in Italy, with a particular interest in Rome, Venice and the Sardinia Region.
A feasibility study will be carried out on several existing hotels, including some that are operating, not operating, renovated or in need of renovation, a statement issued by the three firms says.