MESSRS Chris Grech and Franco Valletta are up there in the list of Malta's most enterprising people. And there is a remarkable synergy between the two. Ever since joining Dhalia Group as chairman and chief executive officer in January 2001, Franco Valletta was instrumental in the achievement of two ambitious objectives - an extensive restructuring and rebranding of the group, and the creation of an impressive network of strategic European partners.
After dedicating four years to getting the Bay Street Tourist Complex up and running, business development director Chris Grech was ready for a new challenge.
When these two gentlemen knock their heads together to juggle ideas that involve their areas of expertise - hospitality, leisure and retail - expect them to be adventurous. And to bring back burner ambitions to the fore.
For months Messrs Grech and Valletta had thought about developing and operating a chain of innovative, holiday developments around the Mediterranean, focusing on carefully selected sites in highly attractive but less intensively developed coastal locations. In January last year, the ball started to roll.
"We want to create a new concept and a strong destination," Mr Grech explained last week. "A tourist village, far removed from the norm, with much higher standards. We want the project to have an identity that is decidedly different from the competition."
As the project developers and promoters, Messrs Grech and Valletta sourced a team of experts to make up what Mr Valletta calls the "strategic wheel" and within four weeks an impressive corps of top notch local and foreign advisers, designers and project managers, were brought on board. A number of foreign investors, apparently impressed by the project's transparency and feasibility, have backed the initiative.
And a new brand was born.
Ms Sue Wheldon, managing director of Brand Architects of London, had already worked on creating the Bay Street brand. A brand architect, with over 25 years' experience as a TV set designer, interior designer and architect, she has been extensively involved in retail, leisure and corporate branding.
At a meeting in London, Ms Wheldon identified with the concept outlined by Mr Grech and Mr Valletta from the outset and came up with 'Atlantis Destinations' - the brand would sport the two shades of blue that make up the Mediterranean horizon.
"Think Atlantis. Think adventure, discovery and water," says Mr Grech.
A 190,000-m2 site just 15 minutes outside the Tunisian resort town of Monastir has been identified for the first resort. Negotiations over the land were held with the Tunisian government, and Mr Grech, who is leading the talks, has expressed his gratitude for the support of Malta's Ambassador to Tunisia Ives de Barro and Tunisia's Ambassador to Malta Abdessalem Hetira.
Tunisia's rich historic architecture will influence the style of the Atlantis Resort buildings, set against a backdrop of sea, gardens, pools and golf. A piazza with outdoor cafes, restaurants, shops and a bazaar area will be the heart of the resort, where tourists and locals can enjoy performances by local artists and musicians.
Each cluster of apartments will feature cobbled walkways, squares and fountains. There will be a sports village featuring a gym, spa, hammam, tennis courts and an Olympic-sized swimming pool which will be open to resort residents and locals. The resort will also have its own cinema and bowling facility.
Atlantis Destinations' Tunisia resort should be completed by November 2005.
RCI Resort Management will manage Atlantis Destinations' resorts; as an arm of one of the top timeshare companies in the world, RCI Resort Management will cover the entire resort lifecycle from project planning and design to rental programmes and resale.
Holiday ownership marketing will be entrusted to Golden Compass Ltd, a new company set up by Mr Valletta and Mr Grech to market holiday ownership properties for Atlantis Destinations resorts and other properties in the Mediterranean. Golden Compass will also advise resort owners or operators of hospitality-related properties on the feasibility of holiday ownership. Dhalia Real Estate will be Atlantis Destinations' real estate agents.
Atlantis Destinations' architects and civil engineers are Dr Edwin Mintoff Associates, one of Malta's largest and most renowned architectural firms. The firm recently won the Malta Environment and Planning Authority's Urban Design Planning Award for its work on the Bay Street Tourist Complex. It is heavily involved in the Cottonera Waterfront project and has also been entrusted with important projects in Europe and North Africa.
Maltese legal firm Ellul, Mifsud and Debono, which specialises in corporate finance, commercial law and intellectual property legislation, has been appointed legal and tax adviser. The three partners, Dr Italo R. Ellul, Dr Pierre J. Mifsud and Dr Jeremy J. De Bono, are also executive directors of two legal consultancy firms Euris Consult Ltd and Lex Consulta International Ltd.
Over the past 22 years, Quality Project Management Ltd has worked on over 40 construction and refurbishment projects worth more than $400 million for Corinthia Group and other clients in Europe and the African continent. The firm has been appointed cost and project manager for Atlantis Destinations.
Baker Tilly Sant, the chain's financial advisers, are the sole independent member in Malta of Baker Tilly International, one of the world's top ten accountancy firms, operating in 59 countries. The Malta partners have been in practice since the Sixties, and pride themselves on providing creative, forward thinking and planning.
With most of the groundwork complete, and with work on the Tunisian project to start next January, Atlantis Destinations are now looking at possible sites for resorts in Croatia, Morocco and Slovenia.