Qatari Diar, a property arm of Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, will build a tourism complex in southern Tunisia at the cost of $80 million, its managing director Mohamed al Hadfa said.

The planned complex, which will include a hotel, shopping centre and other leisure facilities, will be completed within two years over 40 hectares in the city of Tozeur -- Tunisia's main tourism destination at the gate of its desert Sahara south, he added.

Tourism is Tunisia's top foreign currency earner and its biggest employer after farming.

The government in the North African country is striving to diversify tourism away from its Mediterranean coast into southern areas in the hope of luring more high spending holidaymakers from Arab Gulf countries.

Qatari Diar, which counts London's Chelsea Barracks among its most high-profile overseas assets, holds a 45 per cent stake in Qatar's Barwa Real Estate company.

It has more than 80 projects worldwide worth about $60 billion. – Reuters