New Oberoi brand luxury hotels will be built in the Maldives

Oberoi to build 12 luxurious properties in India and abroad > > Business > The Oberois ,East India Hotels,PRS Oberoi ,Kolkata, Maldives , Dubai,Singapore,Cambodia,Egypt: "The Oberois have announced plans to build 12 luxurious properties in India and abroad. Of these, four will be owned by their company East India Hotels, and the others, managed by them, reports CNBC-TV18.



East India Hotels, EIH, Chairman, PRS Oberoi is addressing shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Kolkata. After many years, the Oberois have embarked on an aggressive expansion plan. EIH, he said, had got into agreements with companies in India and abroad to set up as many as 12 new properties.



PRS Oberoi, said that several hotels will be opened in the next few years. “New Oberoi brand luxury hotels will be built in Singapore, Goa, Gurgaon, Cambodia, in the Maldives and in Dubai.'"
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About Maldives

Barefoot Luxury in the Maldives

By Jim Keeble

Is a naked-toed luxury holiday worth the price of a small compact car? Could you not get a cheap flight to somewhere beachy, take off your shoes, find a wooden cabin and a man to cook you curry, for a fraction of the cost?

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They’ve stolen my shoes. After thirteen hours on a plane, a smiling man has placed them firmly into a bag labelled “No News, No Shoes” and pulled the draw-string tight. I am now barefoot in the Maldives. I feel distinctly uncomfortable. Some people have a thing about their thighs, stomach or numerous chins. Personally, I can’t stand my feet. They’re big and hairy, a combination that’s rarely attractive outside a zoo.

This winter-sun season, “Barefoot Luxury” is the new buzz-word. Every expensively exotic beach holiday worth its sand is describing itself as a purveyor of “Shoeless Chic”, “Sand-In-Your-Toes Simplicity,” “Robinson Crusoe Relaxation”, or “Stripped Tootsy Extravagance”. Okay, I made the last one up, but you get the picture.

There’s even a new tour company called ‘Barefoot Luxury’ whose brochure attempts to sum up the concept:

“As our name implies you may experience the true nature of the places you’re visiting by walking barefoot, but luxury will never be more than a step away."
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Boost in turism to the Maldives

World tourism sees an up-turn - Just the Flight: "Significant improvements in the number of international tourists visiting the South East Asian countries hit by the December 2004 tsunami have been recorded this year.

According to the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) the country which has witnessed the greatest boost to its tourism figures in the first quarter of 2006 has been the Maldives, with the number of international tourists visiting up 97 per cent.

Similarly Thailand has seen a 29 per cent boost in visitor numbers and Sri Lanka a 25 per cent rise.

The United Nations specialised agency reported however, that due to the earthquake which struck in May, Indonesia's recovery has not been as successful."
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Not a free trade area

Business Standard / New Delhi

July 05, 2006

"The long-pending South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) pact finally came into force on July 1, sans fanfare. That should cause no surprise, since none of the seven countries (India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives) that constitute the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), and thus the membership of SAFTA, anticipates any major economic benefits immediately, though these might well come in the medium to long term. One possibility is the development of a regional energy grid, as some of the member-countries are surplus in power and other forms of energy. In theory, SAFTA can also pave the way for cross-border movements of labour, services and investment.

Unfortunately, all this is a far cry at the moment as even the movement of goods is blocked by issues that are mostly unrelated to trade and commerce. As it is, the total trade between these seven countries accounts for less than 5 per cent of their combined international trade. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in Europe, where mutual trade is about 55 per cent of the total trade of the countries in the European Union (EU). As such, even if SAFTA leads to a doubling or even tripling of intra-regional trade, its impact on the economies of these countries will remain limited."
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About Maldives

Desert Islands De Luxe

By John Borthwick

The blue abyss beyond the reef is littered with mug lair fish of every hue. The Maldives are famous for excellent diving, and although many corals were decimated by a warm current in 1997, the deeper reefs are still outstanding. With visibility of up to 30 metres, you’re diving in waters so gin-clear you're tempted to say "Cheers!" and drink it.

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Below us, Kunfunadhoo Island is a comma of coral and palms adrift on an epic sea. The 30-minute trip here from Male has been less a flight than a transcendent experience.

Soneva Fushi Resort on Kunfunadhoo is one of the Maldives' most upmarket retreats. I settle into my beachfront suite and a tough regimen of snorkelling, dining and the contemplation of a good novel. The food is a wonder of the reef - tuna steaks that seem to have leapt straight from sea to plate. At the resort’s spa, a Swedish masseuse has a fair go at untying the Gordian knots of my shoulders. As relaxed as jelly, I then wobble off on a bicycle, along banyan shaded paths, to flop into the sea.

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Another resort in the idyllic Maldives

Anantara Maldives - Luxist: "Anantara Maldives

Posted Jul 1st 2006 12:04PM

by Deidre Woollard

Another resort in the idyllic Maldives will be opening this summer on August 1. Anantara Maldives is a five-star boutique hotel located on the South Male Atoll and it is the newest in the small chain of luxury Anantara resorts. The resort has 68 beachfront villas, two beachfront pool villas and 38 deluxe over-water suites and two deluxe over-water pool suites around a private lagoon. The suites all have king-sized beds with canopies. The resort has restaurants featuring Italian and Asian cuisines and there is also a cooking school at the resort. Other amenities include island picnics, a gymnasium, tennis courts, an infinity-edge freshwater swimming pool and the Anantara Spa which offers Ayurvedic and Indian mud therapies."

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