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Oman Hotels & Tourism Co partners with Aitken Spence to manage its hotels

MUSCAT -- Oman Hotels & Tourism Co SAOG signed here yesterday an agreement with Sri Lanka-based regional hotel chain Aitken Spence Hotels to manage their four properties in Oman. OHTC 's four hotels include Al Falaj and Ruwi Hotel in Muscat, Al Wadi in Sohar and Sur Plaza in Sur. Until recently the properties were managed by OHTC itself. The management agreement, which is valid for seven years, will add 406 rooms to Aitken Spence's portfolio which currently includes hotels in Sri Lanka, the Maldives and India.

Maqbool Hameed, Chairman of OHI Group and Director of OHTC , said: "Given the buoyant economic conditions and the importance given to hospitality industry by the Government in the Sultanate, our company sees a bright future in the coming years. In order to optimize the economic yield from these opportunities and to professionalise its service offering, our company has entered into a management agreement with Aitken Spence to manage its four properties." Maqbool Hameed said the company has plans to build new hotels in the Sultanate. As part of the company's social corporate responsibility (SCR) initiatives, he also used the occasion to hand over a cheque of RO 5000 to Dar al Atta charity organisation.

Jayawardena, the Chairman of Aitken Spence and one of the leading businessmen in Sri Lanka, said: "We are delighted to enter the growing Omani hospitality industry. Aitken Spence is a long established company, and we are pleased to be working with a well-known and well-established name like OHTC . Aitken Spence will be submitting a plan to the board of OHTC to improve the four properties and to position them to exploit the emergent tourism climate in the region."

Aitken Spence is the leading resort operator in Sri Lanka with ten properties, while being the 4th largest hotel operator in the Maldives with eight resorts under the Adaaran brand. Aitken Spence has recently ventured into India where two hotels are operating under management contracts with five more properties to be operational in the near future. The company's premier resorts operate under the brand Heritance.

The resort operator's range of multiple award-winning hotel properties in a variety of locations and management expertise has set international benchmarks. Recognised as one of the Top 15 Green Hotels of the World by Conservation International and as an Icon of Modern Hotel Design by The Observer (UK), Heritance Kandalama, is a global best practice environmental management. The Tea Factory, which is also owned and managed by Aitken Spence, is the winner of the Unesco Asia Pacific Heritage Merit Award for the impressive conversion of a dilapidated tea factory into a luxury hotel complex and was recognised by The Sunday Times (UK) as one of the '100 Best Places to Stay in the World'.

By Staff Reporter

© Oman Daily Observer 2008