A ritual blessing of the waters was held Tuesday at the construction site of Bulgaria’s first hotel of the Holiday Inn chain.

The ceremony was attended by Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Transport Minister Nikolay Vassilev, the Minister of Culture and Tourism Nina Chilova, as well as by representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria, Meridian Leisure Hotels, Vector Management and ER-BA.

The five-star hotel, which will be open at Sofia’s Business Park by the end of the year, will offer to its guests 131 rooms, conference centre, spa centre and several restaurants.

The UK Meridian Leisure Hotels company invested EUR 15 M for implementing the project. The construction of the hotel was consigned to the Turkish ER-BA Company.

The Holiday Inn Chain holds about 1,500 full-service hotels all around the world.