Aitken Spence enters Middle East hospitality industry

Signifying a milestone in Sri Lanka’s hospitality sector, the country’s leading resort operator, Aitken Spence signed and agreement with Oman Hotels & Tourism Co SAOG this week to manage four properties in Oman.

Aitken Spence, which was the first Sri Lankan hotel company to enter the Maldives (1993) and India (2007), broke new ground once again by being the first to enter the Middle East.

Oman Hotels and Tourism Company’s (OHTC) four hotels include Al Falaj and Ruwi Hotel in Muscat, Al Wadi in Sohar and Sur Plaza in Sur. Until recently the properties were managed by OHTC. The management agreement will add 406 rooms to Aitken Spence’s expanding portfolio in Sri Lanka and overseas.

“Given the buoyant economic conditions and the importance given to hospitality industry by the Government in the Sultanate, our company sees a bright future in the coming years.

In order to optimize the economic yield from these opportunities and to professionalise its service offering, our company has entered into a management agreement with Aitken Spence to manage its four properties,” Chairman of OHI Group and Director of OHTC, M Hameed said.

D H S Jayawardena, the Chairman of Aitken Spence said, “We are delighted to enter the growing Omani hospitality industry. Aitken Spence is a long established company, and we are pleased to be working with a well-known and well-established name like OHTC.

Aitken Spence will be submitting a plan to the board of OHTC to improve the four properties and to position them to exploit the emergent tourism climate in the region,” Aitken Spence is the leading resort operator in Sri Lanka with ten properties, while being the 4th largest hotel operator in the Maldives with eight resorts under the Adaaran brand.

Aitken Spence has recently ventured into India where two hotels are operating under management contracts with five more properties to be operational in the near future. The company’s premier resorts operate under the brand Heritance.