Shangri-La Maldives, which is currently building a 400-bed resort in the northern atoll of Villingili, is expected to complete the 200-bed city hotel by 2010, Tourism Minister Mahamood Shougee said. Shangri-La, a Hong Kong based leisure group, was one of the two parties who sent in bids to build Male's first city five-star property in Dharubaaruge. However, Handy Hard Investment Ltd, who initially won the bid, declined the offer and the government then awarded the contract to Shangri-La. Shangri-La is now required to deposit five million dollars within seven days. Male, which measures one square mile (2.5 square kilometres), has over a dozen guest houses and small hotels but no five-star property. Under the terms of agreement, Shangri-La must also sell a 30 percent stake in the new venture through a stock market flotation within three years of signing the contract. Shougee said the new hotel would be a replacement for Male's Nasandhura Palace Hotel, which is owned by the state and is to be demolished to make way for a city park. Besides Nasandhura, the Maldivian government owns the Farukolhufushi Island and a substantial stake in the Hulhule Island Hotel. "Under the terms, Nasandhura must be demolished within a year of signing the contract for the Dharubaaruge property," he said. Nasandhura's employees, which number over 100, have been offered a "generous" severance package of between eight to one-year's pay, Shougee said. The proposed development is part of the Maldives' plan to attract a million tourists by 2010 and increase its hotel bed capacity some 80 percent to 36,700 by 2012. Since opening its first two resorts with 280 beds in 1972, Maldives now has luxury resorts sitting on 89 coral islands, with occupancy rates averaging 95 percent. Another 51 new islands were opened to investors last year to develop a combination of resort and hotels alongside 10 regional airports that are to be built. A chain of 1,192 coral islands, South Asia's most exotic holiday destination, attracts over 600,000 visitors each year, mostly celebrities and high spenders from Italy, Germany, Britain and Japan. In August 2007, tourist arrivals rose 6.4 percent to 53,168 according to the Maldives Tourist Promotion Board. Shougee is optimistic the number of visitors may top around 690,000 by end of this year, despite a recent blast in Male, which injured 12 foreign tourists. No one has claimed responsibility for the blast, widely blamed on radical Islamists, but police have arrested 11 people, while two Maldivians still remain on the run. "Few cancellations we had were quickly taken up by other guests, so hopefully we can make our year-end targets this year," Shougee said. The islands are home to 330,000 Sunni Muslims who practice a liberal form of the religion, and authorities said the September 29 attack was the first such incident. Holidaymakers have made Maldives the richest nation in South Asia, with a per capita income of 2,674 dollars. Tourism and fishing account for two thirds of the nation's economy of just under one billion dollars. | 
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