Sun Resorts of Mauritius Sees Revenue Growing 30% on Opening of New Hotel
Sun Resorts Ltd.’s opening of its Long Beach Hotel is poised to boost revenue by 30 percent in fiscal 2011, said Arnaud Dalais, chairman of Mauritius’s second- largest leisure operator by market value.
The 255-room resort that cost 2.6 billion rupees ($90 million) to build is scheduled to open April 2 on the eastern coast of the Indian Ocean island nation, Dalais, who took over as chairman on Feb. 21, said in a March 4 interview in Ebene, nine miles south of the capital, Port Louis.
“We expect the hotel’s occupancy rate to exceed 60 percent at the start of the high season in early October and revenue for 2011 is forecast to rise by 30 percent,” he said. “It’s a concept that’s new to the country, very modern, and the response has been very positive.”
Earnings by the country’s hotel operators are under pressure because of the rupee’s strength against the euro and pound, which may force hoteliers to cut costs, Dalais said. Sun Resorts’ profit for the year through December declined 36 percent to 230.2 million rupees as Europe, the main market for visitors, grappled with a debt crisis.
“We expect net income to improve in 2011,” Dalais said, without giving specific figures.
The group’s debt rose 50 percent to 3 billion rupees in 2010, following investments in Long Beach. Management expects to recoup funds through the Investment Hotel Scheme, a sale and lease-back plan approved by the government that applies to 90 rooms and suites at Long Beach.
Cut Debt
“The implementation of the scheme, the first of its kind in Mauritius, will allow us to cut back significantly our debt level,” Dalais said.
Mauritius had 112 registered hotels with total room capacity of 12,075 by the end of last year, the statistics office said Feb. 25. Hotel revenue is expected to rise 7.7 percent to 42.5 billion rupees in 2011, the Port Louis-based data agency said. The country plans to boost tourist arrivals to 1 million visitors this year, Karl Mootoosamy, director of the country’s tourism promotion agency, said on Jan. 26.
Dalais is also chairman of CIEL Group, an investment company that employs more than 20,000 people through three businesses, CIEL Agro-Industry, CIEL Textile and CIEL Investment Ltd. (CIEL), though which the group owns 30 percent of Sun Resorts.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kamlesh Bhuckory in Port Louis via Johannesburg at gbell16@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
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