Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts has completed the soft opening of its 618-room Mövenpick Resort & Marine Spa Sousse in Tunisia.

The resort offers 588 rooms, 22 suites with balconies, 14 executive suites with terrace and a presidential suite; five restaurants; six bars and three outdoor pools. It also boasts a marine spa with an indoor swimming pool and a health club. It offers a wide range of treatments, available both indoors and out.

For the soft opening, only parts of the hotel will be operational, these being the lobby area; the lobby food and beverage outlets - Tapeo, Breeze and First; the main buffet restaurant, Mosaique; the Sendai Japanese Restaurant; the Aga Café; guestrooms in the south wing, equating to around 280 rooms; the outside heated pool; the garden and terrace area; and the beach.

Sousse is situated about 130 km (81 miles) south of Tunis, with Monastir International Airport 20 minutes' drive away. The resort itself is close to the town centre, with a shopping mall within walking distance and a 36-hole golf course a short drive away.

In a further development, Mövenpick has revealed that it plans on opening around a dozen hotels in India by 2015 and is seeking domestic partners to launch its Marche restaurant brand. The company has signed a management agreement with M S Ramiah Group to open its first five-star hotel in Bangalore later this year and is looking to open resorts in Goa and Cochin.