Malta's latest five-star hotel, Le Méridien St Julians - a total investment of Lm18 million - is taking serious and state-of-the-art shape as it prepares to open its doors on March 1, increasing the number of five-star properties on the island to 14 and the total number of beds to 6,028.
The Balluta Bay hotel, together with another three tourism-related projects to be inaugurated this year, are taking the number of beds in Malta up by 1,770, Tourism and Culture Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said during a visit to the property yesterday. Approval has been granted for another four projects.
Ten years ago there were five hotels in the five-star category, with a total of 1,274 beds, he recalled, meaning that in a decade the number of five-star properties had trebled while the number of beds had increased fivefold.
Built on the land of Villa Cassar Torreggiani, which dates back to the 19th century and which would now be serving as a dining area, the hotel's décor has been entrusted to interior designer Mark Pace.
Looming over Balluta Bay, parts of the 14-storey property are still a construction site. But barring some delays in its development, Le Méridien St Julians is on track and gearing up to go.
The amphitheatre with cinema-style seating is part of an entire floor of 1,600 square metres, dedicated to conference and meeting facilities, including 14 meeting rooms, catering for between eight and 350 persons.
Attractive features of the wellness area include intricately carved columns, commissioned in Bali, teak decking and split levels, while dining experiences are numerous and varied - cuisine being one of the areas Le Méridien St Julians intends to excel in. The Villa Brasserie restaurant, with its two-Michelin-starred chef, is just one of the restaurants on offer, said hotel general manager Ben Sington.
The minister yesterday toured the hotel, checking out one of the 277 rooms and suites which enjoys stunning sea views stretching from St George's Bay to Exiles. The government and the Malta Tourism Authority were drawing up a report on the various beaches that needed to be developed this year. Balluta Bay, together with other areas of St Paul's Bay and Xlendi in Gozo, were being earmarked for reinstatement in the years to come, Dr Zammit Dimech said. He recalled that Balluta beach once extended to the Barracuda area.
Dr Zammit Dimech said the hotel would be employing 160 full-time workers and 40 part-timers before opening, and increase to 180 and 60 respectively by May.
He said the new property was a sign of the trust and confidence Le Méridien had in Malta. Seeing the international hotel chain expand on the island was also "very satisfying" - a show of faith that the industry could go further, he continued.
Among the tourism-related projects in the pipeline, three of them involved new five-star hotels while the other involved an extension to an existing five-star property.
Hotels of this calibre were of prime importance for the country to enter the conference and incentive market: 76 per cent of these visitors chose to stay in five-star hotels - and spent three times more than any other tourists in Malta, Dr Zammit Dimech pointed out.
In the first 11 months of last year, 88,513 business tourists visited the island - an increase of 8.7 per cent over the same period the previous year. The number of conference delegates who visited Malta last year amounted to 63,000, an increase of 6.8 per cent over 2004, Dr Zammit Dimech said.
The number of tourists overall has increased for the second consecutive year, with the total amount of visitors to Malta last year estimated at 1,170,000.