London (TAN): InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) will venture into New Caledonia with three hotel signings.
The properties – InterContinental Lifou Wadra Bay Resort, Holiday Inn Resort Ouvéa, and Holiday Inn Resort Lifou, are scheduled to open across the next five years.
IHG’s Vice President of Development – Australasia, Japan and Pacific, Abhijay Sandilya said it was an “exciting time” for the company to enter New Caledonia.
“The Loyalty Islands currently have no international hotel brand so bringing the world’s largest hotel brand family, Holiday Inn, and the world’s largest luxury hotel brand, InterContinental, to the islands will boost the territory’s global profile and give us a fantastic opportunity to offer IHG guests a unique New Caledonian tourism experience. We are proud to work with the owner of these properties to deliver spectacular and inspiring island hospitality,” he added.
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The 50-room InterContinental Lifou Wadra Bay Resort, which is under construction on the Loyalty Islands’ Lifou island, will open in November 2021. It will boast several dining venues, a bar, spa, fitness centre and pool apart from guestrooms and suites.
Holiday Inn Resort Ouvéa will be converted from Hotel Paradis d’Ouvéa, and open in November 2021 after renovations. Located on Ouvéa Island’s Mouli Beach, the resort will feature 34 rooms along with a restaurant, bar and outdoor pool.
The existing Hotel Drehu Village will be refurbished into the 30-room Holiday Inn Resort Lifou, set to open in 2024. The resort, situated in Lifou Island, will offer a restaurant, bar and outdoor pool.
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The company will open all the properties under a long-term management agreement with owner Société de développement et d’investissement des Îles Loyauté (SODIL), whose General Manager, William Ihage said the travel sector, “growing twice as fast as the world economy” and supporting one tenth of jobs, was a “true growth engine”.
“New Caledonia is an aspirational destination for travellers from around the world, and visitor arrivals are on an upwards trajectory. In fact, in 2017, more than 120,000 tourists and 493,000 cruise ship passengers visited New Caledonia, and we’ve seen a large increase in the number of Australian, New Zealand and Japanese tourists, as well as continued visitors from France,” he added.
