Ritz Carlton to open new resort on Bintan

The Jakarta Post, Fadli, Batam

Ritz Carlton is to open a new resort in the Bintan Resort Tourism Zone on Bintan island in Riau Islands province by the end of 2008 at a total cost of US$65 million.

The 77,000-square meter resort, which will boast 60 villas, is expected to attract more tourists to the area, Bintan Resort Development Corp.'s public relations manager Nia Firtica said Tuesday in Batam.

The resort, the construction of which will start in July, will also have a conference center that can accommodate 600 people.

It is expected to be fully operational by the end of next year and will create 200 new jobs.

Nia said that Ritz Carlton would manage the resort, which would be built by PT Pacific Palace Jakarta.

Ritz Carlton currently manages 63 hotels throughout the world, one of which is located in Jakarta and one in Bali. It is developing 35 more hotels in a number of different countries.

Besides the Ritz Carlton resort, Malaysian property company Landmark Holdings is also planning to build a large resort on the island. "The construction of the resort, which will be called Waterfront City, will begin next year," Nia said.

According to Nia, the Ritz Carlton and other tourist projects had been encouraged by the development of the Singapore Integrated Resort, which was due to open on the island in 2010.

"The investors' main reason for developing projects here is the steady increase of the number of tourists visiting the island," Nia explained.

At least 333,000 tourists from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, India and the Middle East visit the island annually. The Bintan Resort Tourism Zone was inaugurated in 1996.

With a total area of 23,000 hectares, the special resort zone, which is less than an hour by ferry from Singapore, so far houses five hotels and resorts built at a total cost of $4.8 billion, and employs 4,500 workers.