Berjaya eyes possible hotel reinvestment |14 December 2004

Acting head of Berjaya’s Hotels and Resorts Division Lucinda Semark said the group was in the process of identifying properties around the world that would warrant investment, including its existing hotels in Seychelles – the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay, the Mahe Beach Resort and the Praslin Beach Resort.

Ms Semark was speaking to reporters after a meeting with President James Michel at State House. She was accompanied by Berjaya Hotels and Resorts executive director Khor Poh Waa and B.B. Khoo, the general manager for Berjaya Hotels and Resorts Seychelles.

The meeting with the President was an opportunity to get a feel for the direction of the tourism industry and the government’s plans to bring in more visitors, she said.

Ms Semark, who recently joined the Malaysian-based company, said that Berjaya would be prioritising its properties to find the “the right levels of investment” to get profitable returns for the group.

Berjaya’s three hotels were “fundamental to the founding of the industry” in Seychelles, she said, but allowed that they “have been around for a long time,” and that the group was looking at ways to take them forward.

 “There are a lot of new hotels coming in and we don’t want to get left behind,” she said.

Ms Semark did not commit to whether a reinvestment effort would amount to a large-scale renovation or a service upgrade to a four- or five-star level.

While re-investment seems a possibility, Mr Waa did not rule out additional developments in Seychelles either, saying it was “something to study.”

He said the existing properties in Seychelles had contributed positively to the group and that he was pleased with their performance.

The Berjaya delegation is scheduled to leave the country on Tuesday.

Berjaya operates 18 hotels and resorts around the world, including the three in Seychelles and one in Mauritius. It also has hotels in the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and elsewhere in Asia.