Ceylon Hotels Maldives (Pvt) Ltd. (CHML), a subsidiary of Ceylon Hotels Corporation Plc and member of the Galle Face Group of Companies entered in to a 50:50 joint venture with the Zhen Hua Engineering Company Limited (ZHEC), a group company of China Harbour Engineering Company Limited.
In terms of the said joint venture, CHML and ZHEC will develop, construct and operate an upscale resort of 85-100 rooms on Ambara Island, Vaavu Atoll in the Maldives. Vaavu Atoll is consistently rated as one of the top 10 diving spots in the Maldives. The resort is scheduled to be open in 2020. The total project cost is set at US $ 50 million.
“This is a unique business proposition as the Galle Face Group as a hotel expert and CHEC as a construction expert create a very exciting synergy that has a lot of potential for further strategic partnerships in the future. The team at the Galle Face is very enthusiastic about extending the Group’s global footprint across new markets and regions and creating sustainable long term value for our shareholders,” Chairman Sanjeev Gardiner said.
This will be one of the largest joint venture projects undertaken by the Galle Face Group.
“Joining hands with such a large global entity will provide many opportunities for growth and development of the Galle Face Group. This is the beginning of a long journey. We look forward to many future endeavours and are pleased to have this tie up,” he said.
“The tourism industry in Sri Lanka is performing well and the arrivals have gone up for January. We expect the global industry too to perform well. The joint venture will augur well for the industry and we hope that Galle Face Hotel will benefit from this. There will be a new branding for the Group and it will be announced shortly,” Galle Face Hotel Group Management, Senior Vice President,Chandra Mohotti said.
Tourist arrivals in January was up 12.6 percent against the previous year to mark 246,972 visitors for the first month of the year. Sri Lanka targets 2.5 million visitors this year.
The Galle Face Group is primarily involved in hotel ownership, management and operations, real estate and investment (both in Sri Lanka and overseas). Apart from being the oldest hotel management company in Sri Lanka, it has a diversified portfolio of strategic business interests.