Accor Signs Two New Hotels in Maldives

Accor Asia Pacific has been appointed by Pristine Island Investments to manage two new resorts being built in one of the most unspoiled areas of the Maldives.

The 68-villa Mercure and 120-villa Pullman will 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 will feature 68 villas including 43 located over water and 25 scattered along the white sandy beach.

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 resort will directly accessible by domestic plane, without the need of an additional speedboat journey

The 120-villa Pullman Maldives Maamutaa Resort, which is slated to open in 2018, will be a ‘one-island, one-resort development’ located just 10 minutes by speedboat from the new airport at Kooddoo on the unspoiled Maamutaa Island which spans 195,000 square metres.

The Pullman Maamutaa will feature 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 upscale Pullman Maldives Maamutaa Resort and mid-scale Mercure Maldives Kooddoo Resort will be our first two hotel developments in the Maldives and we are pleased to partner with Accor which has a large brand portfolio catering to different market segments and a strong brand presence in Europe and Asia,” said Mr Ronald Leo, CEO of Pristine Island Investments. “We believe that this partnership, with our collective experience, will create a new and very exciting holiday destination in the Maldives.” 

Maldives is 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% of visitor arrivals (with China the number one source country) and Europe accounting for 49% of visitor arrivals. With the increased air capacity to the Maldives including new direct flights from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and key Chinese hubs, tourism in the region is expected to grow further with anticipated visitor arrivals to reach 1.72 million by 2017.