Uruguayan Senator Nicolás Viera announced that he will bring the situation of the Hotel Casino Carmelo, located in the department of Colonia, to Parliament this April 22, in order to analyze its future after the tender for a new operator was canceled.
Through social networks, the senator from the Frente Amplio recalled that there were “international calls for tenders that did not materialize” during the past government, and that “possibilities must be studied to open the doors of that large building for ventures” of various kinds, such as university projects.
“There will be no magic solutions for this building; I have discussed this with the current National Director of Tourism and member of our team, Cristian Pos, but we are going to take action on the matter,” added the also candidate for mayor of Colonia.
It should be noted that, in January of this year, the Uruguayan Ministry of Tourism announced that it had canceled the tender for the operation of the Hotel Casino Carmelo due to the absence of companies interested in presenting their projects.
At that time, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Remo Monzeglio, indicated that “the non-submission of private proposals is directly linked to the lack of regulation of online gambling in Uruguay, an aspect that investors consider key to the business.”
Subsequently, in mid-March, the Minister of Tourism of the new government, Pablo Menoni, stated that the current situation is due to a lack of prior analysis and various unfulfilled promises, rather than the process itself.
“The error there is not in the bidding process itself, but in the expectations that were created in the population. That is what people are demanding from us,” said Menoni, avoiding delving too deeply into the context of the bidding. “I understand that a risk analysis was missing, which was not done,” he added.
