Pearl Investment to open 10 hotels in India, GCC countries

Dubai-based diversified group Pearl Investment has said it plans to open 10 hotels in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and India with an investment of 500 million dirhams (USD 136.15 million) over the next five years.

The group announced the plans as it embarked on celebrating its 10 years of operations in the UAE.

Riyadh, Makkah and Madinah are among the GCC locations for hotel projects, while the group's Flora Airport Kochi in India is due to open in December 2010. The spa project on the 25-acre Flora Island Resort is about 15 minutes drive from Kochi airport.

The 70-room, four-star boutique hotel will have banqueting facilities for 1,000 guests.

Flora Group Hotels' managing director Noordheen Babu said the group's hotels recorded an average occupancy of 87 per cent in 2009, which was one of the most economically challenging times for the global tourism industry, and the average occupancy level for this year has been 85 per cent.

The 350-million dirham (USD 95.3 million) family-managed Pearl Investment runs Flora Group Hotels and Ontime Technical Services as its subsidiaries.

It has over 3,000 staff members, drawn from 20 nationalities, on its payrolls.

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