ITB Asia: Outrigger sets a steady tack

SINGAPORE  Hawaii home-based Outrigger will continue its expansion in Asia with new resorts in Thailand, Vietnam and China, according to the group chief marketing officer, Sean Dee.
Dee presented an update of the resort developer’s plans during a media briefing at ITB Asia, Thursday.
Specialising in beach resorts, the group’s has 46 properties in Hawaii alone, where it was founded in 1946 and remains to this day a family enterprise.
inside no 8Yet it has the financial clout to open on average 1 to 2 new resorts a year and says that trend will continue until at least 2020 mainly in the Asia/Pacific region.
It has just completed construction of a 1,000 sqm ballroom at its Thailand flagship property on Phuket island in the Phuket Laguna complex.
Phuket is home to the group’s Asia/Pacific headquarters, while its corporate head office remains in Hawaii.
The group’s first resort in Vietnam is due to open in 2016 at Quy Nhon, while a project is underway in Hainan China.
Dee says the group has no plans to move into city style hotels claiming the Outrigger brand is firmly entrenched in the beach resort segment.
“If we ever considered city developments, it would have to be with a different brand and we don’t see that as a direction we should take. Our focus is clearly beaches and quality resorts.”
The Outrigger Mauritius Resort and Spa will be the group’s first property for Outrigger in the Indian Ocean when it opens at the end of the year.
Since starting its expansion into the Asia-Pacific region in 2008, Outrigger has grown to include properties currently open or under development in Bali and Phuket, Thailand, the two most popular resort destinations in Asia; as well as in Phi Phi Island, Thailand; Sanya, Hainan Island, China; and Quy Nhon, Vietnam.
In the Maldives, the group purchased Konotta Island Resort from Crystal Lagoon Pvt Ltd last September.
Located on Gaafu Dhaalu Atoll in the Maldives, 340 km from the country’s international airport at Male, the resort has closed for extensive renovations and will relaunched as the Outrigger Konotta Maldives Resort in July 2015.
The 27-villa resort will join 15 other Outrigger Resorts located in seven countries throughout the Indian Ocean and Asia-Pacific region.
It is the second resort for Outrigger in the Indian Ocean following the purchase and successful launch of the Outrigger Mauritius Resort and Spa in April this year.
The group purchased Outrigger on the Lagoon in Fiji earlier this year, after holding a minority stake in the resort in 1998.

sourced:ttrweekly.com