Maldives Tourism to Surpass a Half Million Arrivals in 2024

The Maldives announced they crossed 500,000 arrivals in 2024, with China leading as their top source market. As of March 17, the Maldives had attracted 513,377 visitors, with China being the source of 60,699 arrivals. In second place was Russia, with 52,385 visitors. Italy and the UK were neck and neck in third and fourth place, with 49,480 and 46,849 visitors, respectively. So far in 1Q24, the average stay is 7.8 days.

Singapore is expecting over 1.5 million Indian tourists this year, continuing to work on seamless and easy visas for them. In 2019, before the pandemic, Singapore attracted 1.4 million tourists from India. In 2023, that number had climbed back to a post-pandemic high of 1.1 million. The Singapore Tourism Board has offices in Mumbai, Delhi, and Chennai where they continue to work on getting seamless and easy visas for Indian tourists. On the home front, Singapore his building infrastructure for tourist and business travelers, such as 9,000 new hotel rooms that are being added to about 72,000 existing rooms. New air carriers are operating in India and STB believes once they start flying internationally, the number of tourists to Singapore will continue to increase.

Vietnamese wellness pioneer Fusion Hotel Resorts and Dong A Hotel Group ISC have entered into a hotel management agreement to reposition and manage the Nui Coc Lake Wellness Resort Nui Coc Resort. The hotel management agreement between the two was signed on March 8th. The resort is expected to represent an attractive Hanoi weekend getaway, a meeting and group destination, and a retreat for domestic and international travelers, stretching nearly 1km along the banks of Nui Coc Lake in Thai Nguyen province. The existing 24-hectare development consists of 15 bungalows and 58 hotel rooms with eight traditional Vietnamese houses up to 300 years old. The plan will be to reposition the resort as an upmarket destination with the Fusion team working with the owner to create a new concept and support the execution of the development plan. Once complete the resort will include up to 185 keys, offering full-service amenities, taking advantage of the site’s natural surroundings. The Nui Coc Lake Wellness Resort by Fusion is expected to begin operations and welcome its first guests in early 2026.

BWH Hotels announced the signing of three new SureStay properties in Australasia. BWH will introduce two economy SureStay hotels and the first in market, the extended stay brand SureStay Studios to the portfolio. The hotels will be located in Australia’s capital cites of Brisbane and Sydney. Renovations have begun on two of the conversion properties in Sydney, located in the CBD and St Leonards, with both properties due for completion later this year. The third, the inaugural SureStay Studios, will be in Mount Gravatt in Brisbane’s south. That will be a conversion of its existing residential apartments into two-bedroom accommodations. The conversion developments in Sydney will be done by the end of 2024 and brings the number of Sydney properties to eight with Brisbane rounding out to five BWH-branded assets. SureStay Hotels currently includes over 450 properties accounting for 30,000+ rooms in BWH Hotels’ portfolio. That includes SureStay, SureStay Plus, SureStay Studio and SureStay Collection hotels. BWH currently has 24 SureStay properties in various stages of development globally with seven properties across the region with a key interest in Sydney, Christchurch, Bangkok and the Philippines.

Indian Hotels Company Ltd. will continue to accelerate its expansion in the luxury homestay segment following the launch of its 100th property in Bhimtal, Uttarakhand in India. IHCL entered the homestay segment in 2019 with the launch of ama Stays & Trails. The brand is now present in 15 states with IHCL aiming to grow further by deepening its presence in high growth markets and attracting new customers including corporates. IHCL said the brand has 60 signings and 40 bungalow openings to date this year. Revenue is up 31% compared to the same period last year.

Radisson Hotel Group said they signed the Pramod Lands End Resort, a member of Radisson Individuals. The 100-room hotel has been developed by Padma Eastern Hotels Private Limited and is set to open its doors in the second quarter of 2024. Pramod Lands End Resort, a member of Radisson Individuals, is located on Gopalpur Beach in southern Odisha, a four-hour drive from prominent religious hubs such as Puri and Konark. This is Radisson Hotel Group’s first hotel signed in Odisha and is part of Radisson’s plans to expand more in tier II and III regions of India.

SJM Resorts officially unveiled the Palazzo Versace hotel at its Grand Lisboa Palace complex in Macau, marking Versace’s debut in the Asian luxury hotel scene. The hotel spans one of the Cotai resort’s towers. Palazzo Versace offers 271 rooms and suites, radiating in an Italian Palazzo ambiance, complete with bespoke linens, Versace Home textiles and Italian terrazzo flooring. The hotel includes two Italiandining venues and guests can enjoy a wellness retreat, personal training studio and both indoor and outdoor swimming pools. SJM said this completes the Grand Lisboa Palace, the last IR to open on Cotai and one of the most underperforming properties in the very successful part of Macau. Besides the Palazzo Versace, Grand Lisboa Palace offers 1,350 rooms in the GLP Tower and 271 rooms at the Karl Lagerfeld Hotel.

R&F Korea, a unit of Chinese Developer Guangzhou R&F Properties Co. Ltd., has been denied any further extensions of their plans to develop an integrated casino resort at Incheon in South Korea. R&F said South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism invalidated its right to have a resort project with a casino there. R&F has 90 days to appeal the decision. R&F originally partnered with Caesars and started developing the property but when Caesars in the US merged with Eldorado Resorts, the new management ended the relationship causing R&F to seek financing and a casino partner, both of which they have been unable to accomplish.

Personnel Moves

IHCL’s Taj Hotels has promoted Saurabh Tiwari to the role of Area Director—Operations, Middle East, and General Manager. Tiwari will be responsible for three luxury five-star hotels within the region, including Taj Dubai, Taj Exotica Resort and Spa, and Taj JLT. His most recent role was as General Manager of Taj Dubai.

The Executive Committee of the Hotel Association of India elected K B Kachru, Chairman Emeritus and Principal Advisor, South Asia at Radisson Hotel Group, as President for a two-year term at the Association’s one hundredth EC Meeting during HAI’s twenty-seventh Annual General Meeting on March 18. Kachru takes over for outgoing President Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and CEO of IHCL. The Executive Committee also elected Rohit Khosla, EVP IHCL, as VP of the Association.