IFC finances Shangri-La Resort hotel to spur development in southern Maldives

Travelbizmonitor
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is helping Shangri-La Asia Limited finance the construction of a 142 room resort hotel in the southern Maldives that will help create jobs, strengthen tax revenues and attract tourists and investors to an underdeveloped region of the country. IFC will provide USD 50 million in long-term financing to help the company complete construction of the high end hotel on Villingili Island in the Addu Atoll, about 400 km from the capital city of Male. The investment will strengthen the local economy by directly creating more than 300 jobs and indirectly facilitating the creation of 2000 jobs, while the resort is being constructed.

Madhu Rao, Executive Director and CFO, Shangri-La Asia, said, “The investment will provide important support to the local economy. Shangri-La strongly supports the Maldivian government's commitment to sustainable tourism.” Tourism accounts for about 70 percent of Maldives’ economic activity. However, tourism development is largely concentrated around Male, in the north. The Maldivian government has been working to ensure that tourism activity is more widely dispersed, especially in the southern atolls. The government has a 30 percent equity investment in the joint venture implementing the Shangri-la project.

Dimitris Tsitsiragos, Director - Global Manufacturing and Services, IFC said, “As it will be the first high-end resort development in the south of Maldives, the project will help to attract other private investors into the area, thus benefiting the local economy.”