International hotel chain Riu Hotels & Resorts will take over at the Pravets Golf & Spa resort in Pravets, north-western Bulgaria, Terra Tour Service, the investor in the project, said.

Riu has signed on to run a hotel with more than 200 rooms in the resort for a period of five years. The 70 million leva complex, which has an 18-hole golf course, among other facilities, has an area of 100 ha and should open for business by the autumn of 2009.

Riu, which tracks its origins to Mallorca in 1953 with a small family hotel, already operates Terra Tour hotels in sea resorts Slunchev Byrag (Sunny Beach) and Zlatni Pyasutsi (Golden Sands) and in coastal city Obzor.