A brand new product in the tourism industry can only be greeted with joy. Last Thursday, the new Radisson SAS Golden Sands Resort and Spa began to receive its first visitors. It's a wonderful addition to an already impressive chain of five-star hotels that makes its developers and Malta proud.
Last Thursday's event was what is known in the industry as a soft opening. The official opening is scheduled for October 14. The new resort does not only signify that the national bed stock has gone up by over 600, but also that the overall product has been enriched by a development where attention to detail has been paramount and where no stone has been left unturned to ensure excellence.
In fact the new resort incorporates 337 rooms including luxury presidential suites, penthouses, and de luxe rooms.
Apart from focusing on the conference and incentive market, the hotel has been developed as an upmarket vacation club or, as it is more popularly referred to, timeshare resort. It is estimated that around 50,000 permanent tourists will be generated through this development alone. That is because a family which buys a week in the resort for the next 45 years will make sure to either use the week directly for its own vacation or that that week's stay is passed on to other visitors.
That is done either directly by the family or through a well organised exchange system where the family owning a week at the resort can in any year opt through a points system to exchange that stay with another vacation in another country while persons owning a week or more elsewhere are opting for Malta as their own exchange option.
I am also informed that the resort has organised one of the best sales pitching areas in Europe to encourage further timeshare uptake. There will be satisfied clients who wish to take up more weeks as well as new clients who will be eager to join as members of this wonderful resort.
The Golden Sands resort is ready exactly as planned. Apart from welcoming its first guests, in November it will be the venue for what is known as the "retreat" of Commonwealth heads of government as they convene in Malta for their meeting. Heads of state and prime ministers from all over the Commonwealth will be able to enjoy the unique panorama that the site offers.
Apart from operating as a vacation club, the resort will from day one be targeting the conference and incentive market. This is by far one of our industry's most important segments since it is calculated that a visitor to our country who comes for this purpose, spends three times more than the average.
Five-star hotels are indispensable for this segment. Over three-quarters of the 60,000 or so visitors who visited Malta last year on conference and incentive travel stayed in a five-star property. The opening of this resort takes the number of five-star hotels to 14.
Total earnings from the conference and incentive segment last year amounted to around Lm19 million, about six per cent more than in 2003. The budget per delegate has also increased.
Promoting Malta as a CIT destination fits in well with one of Government's strategic objectives, that of an increase in tourists especially in the high-yield sector. Our history, cultural heritage, as well as vibrant contemporary cultural and arts scene, apart from sporting and outdoor events provide the necessary backdrop to a segment that is destined to grow much further in the coming years. Quality hotels then provide the necessary infrastructure for delegates who come over.
In the case of the Golden Sands resort, options for use will include the 600-square metre Golden Sands ballroom, different conference rooms as well as syndicate rooms and all the necessary business amenities and infrastructural backup.
The main markets for international conferences are the UK, the Benelux countries and Germany. Last year, in terms of the incentive outbound market to Malta, Germany ranked first, followed by France, the UK and Italy. The sectors that are mostly choosing Malta for their conferences are the pharmaceutical companies, the automobile industry, the research and development sector, the cosmetics industry as well as investment companies.
As this segment grows, further developments in our five-star chain are welcome, and the Golden Sands' project is a welcome addition.
When I had visited the resort in its early construction phase in October 2003, I was assured that it will be completed this year. Hats off to the Island Hotels Group for honouring the timeframes they set themselves and working on schedule despite the size of the project involved. Works only started in July 2003 after the property was handed over to the group the previous January.
I know that from the very beginning as well as throughout the project, the group's chairman, Winston V. Zahra, has not let go. He was there in person, day in, day out, making sure that the project proceeds as planned, adopting a total hands-on approach, seeing to all details, and making sure that the different components gel into an impressive whole.
He would regularly send me aerial photos of the development as it was shaping up, and I would equally regularly compliment him on the progress achieved, as well as on his own stamina, courage and determination. On Thursday, Winston had good reason to sit back and enjoy the results achieved through months of hard work and an investment that has topped the Lm10 million mark.
It was an appropriate moment for Winston to look back on the past 18 years and recall joining the industry by acquiring the Bugibba Holiday Complex in 1987. Since then the group he leads acquired two more hotels: the Coastline Hotel and the Radisson SAS Hotel in St Julian's. Apart from that he set up Island Caterers and acquired a 20 per cent shareholding in the Dragonara Casino.
I also welcome the fact that when the Island Hotels Group embarked upon this investment, they did not try to economise by sacrificing environmental considerations. On the contrary, the environment was given utmost priority to ensure that the demolition process, the building process and the final product do not impact negatively the environment. The new resort is one of the most environment-friendly of the kind in Europe.
In particular, a recycling plan was put in motion for the demolition of the former Côte d'Or building. All steel was carted away, pressed and exported as scrap metal. Most of the furnishing and fittings in the former property have been either sold for reuse or else given away to charity, thus ensuring the best form of recycling for any products that still had some life in them. Former electrical cables and equipment were stored for use on the new project and 40,000 of the 50,000 cubic metres of material generated by the demolition were left on site for use in the formation of the new roads and pathways within the new property.
The one and only note that jarred last Thursday was the sudden outburst of unwarranted accusations by the Leader of the Opposition who, after stating that he needs more time to study the situation, was claiming that Government's plans for a new golf course were only intended to do Winston Zahra a favour! After keeping mum for some time, the honourable gentleman could not resist the temptation of resorting to political opportunism, spurred on no doubt by different quarters and choosing to score some points rather than analyse the whole situation calmly and objectively.
Whether he knew or not that it was the same day that the Golden Sands Resort and Spa was welcoming its first guests, or whether it has been an unfortunate coincidence for him is not known at this stage. Whatever the case, he might have been trying to reverse an old saying by providing a cloud for every silver lining!
Coming to think of it, had a leading Opposition spokesman had his way, the Golden Sands Resort and Spa would not have seen the light of day last Thursday!
This is not the only new development in the industry of which we can be proud over the coming years. The Hilton and the Westin Dragonara - to give two very important examples - will be expanding. The new Cavalieri will soon open and next year another Le Meridien Hotel welcomes its first guests.
More shining stars are making the Malta product stand out.
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