Sri Lanka Aitken Spence opens new Maldivian resort

Sri Lanka's Aitken Spence group said it has opened its latest Maldivian luxury resort called Adaaran ‘Prestige’ Vadoo.

The resort, 15 minutes by speed boat from Male’ International Airport, has 50 villas including six Japanese concept rooms on the ocean, a company statement said.

The company said each villa comes with a personal butler, in-room spa therapy facilities, private dining area on deck, Jacuzzi, plunge pool, DVD player, home theatre system, and espresso machine.

Aitken Spence is the fourth largest hotel operator in the Maldives with seven properties under the Adaaran brand and also manages hotels in India and the Middle East.

The opening of the new resort comes at a time when tourist arrivals in the Maldives have fallen sharply because of the global recession.

Aitken Spence's overseas hotels have buoyed the group's bottom line in recent years as earnings from its Sri Lankan properties remained weak owing to the tourism slump caused by the ethnic war.

The group's hotel subsidiary Aitken Spence Hotels said net profit for the December 2008 quarter shot up almost 200 percent to 358 million rupees largely owing to the sale of its Bathala Island resort in the Maldives

Source: lankabusinessonline.com