Maputo — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Friday night inaugurated a new Maputo hotel, which is hoping to cash in on the opportunities provided by the 2010 football world Cup to be held in neighbouring South Africa.

The hotel inaugurated on Friday is the Girassol Indy Village, the fruit of 30 million US dollars of investment, and intended to combine accommodation and sports. The owners, the Portuguese Visabeira Group, hope to attract some of the football teams that will play in the World Cup to visit Mozambique too, and to stay at the Indy village.

The chairperson of the Visabeira-Mozambique board of directors, and former governor of the Bank of Mozambique, Adriano Maleiane, invited football teams, particularly those from other Portuguese speaking countries, to use the "excellent conditions" afforded by Indy Village.

Despite the recession in Europe and America, Maleiane was optimistic about the growth of tourism in Africa.

"We are convinced that it is worthwhile to invest in tourism", he declared, adding that the Visabeira group is studying the possibilities of expanding to other parts of Mozambique and to other countries in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region.

The Indy Village has 190 rooms, 118 of which are in villas, a restaurant for 300 people, a conference hall that can seat 1,000, two swimming pools, and space for other sports.

The Visabeira group already has other hotels in Maputo, Nampula and Lichinga, and can now offer 600 rooms.

Visabeira also has investments in other key sectors of the Mozambican economy, including agriculture, communications, cable television and real estates. It employs around 2,500 Mozambican workers.