By BW Hotelier
ACCOR ASIA Pacific has been appointed by Pristine Island Investments to manage Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort and Pullman Maldives Maamutaa Resort, two new resorts being built Maldives.
The Mercure and Pullman are expected to open in 2016 and 2018 respectively, and will be located in the south of the Maldives in the Gaafu Alifu Atoll in the Indian Ocean.
The Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort aims to provide the best-value accommodation in Maldives, with 68 villas including 43 located over water and 25 scattered along the white sandy beach. The resort will be built using local materials, bright colours with the interiors reflecting the Maldivian culture and the spirit of travel. The resort is expected to be the only Maldivian beach resort directly accessible by domestic plane, without the need of an additional speedboat journey. Facilities will include an all-day restaurant, lobby lounge, pool and pool bar, sunset bar, spa and gym as well as a range of watersports including a dive centre.
The 120-villa Pullman Maldives Maamutaa Resort, which is slated to open in 2018, will be a ’one-island, one-resort development’ located 10 minutes by speedboat from the new airport Maamutaa Island which spans 195,000 square metres. The property is expected to offer its guests five-star services and facilities including 80 overwater villas and 40 villas dotted around the pristine beach, two swimming pools, a lounge, an all-day dining restaurant, a specialty restaurant, a sunset bar perched over the lagoon, spa and fitness centre, organic gardens, tennis court, kids club, beach playground as well as a dive centre and watersports centre.
The announcement comes at a time when the Maldives are enjoying record visitor numbers with 120,468 tourists arriving in February 2015, the highest number recorded in the history of Maldives tourism. Asia Pacific currently accounts for around 44 per cent of visitor arrivals (with China the number one source country) and Europe accounting for 49 per cent of visitor arrivals.