STO decides to enter tourism with joint venture

State Trading Organization (STO) has announced that they would be entering the tourism sector in a joint venture with a foreign company through the hotel built in Hulhumalé.

Since last year, STO has said that they have been talking to a foreign company to sell the hotel.

At the annual general meeting last night at Dharubaaruge, the Managing Director of STO, Ahmed Shaheer said that STO has changed it’s thinking.

And so after discussing with the Tourism Ministry and other relevant parties, the company has decided not to sell the hotel. He said that they are currently working to form a joint venture and make the hotel operational in the next 12 months.

Although the STO Managing Director has made the remark, last year, he said that the STO shareholders want to be in the four main businesses of the company, medicine, staple goods, oil and construction.

Shaheer said that not a single Laari (Maldivian equivalent of penny) can be invested in tourism without making investments in the other businesses.

Although an agreement was signed with the American company, Carlson to build Radisson Blu Hotel in 2008, the construction did not begin until 2012. The project was estimated at MVR 115 million. STO took a loan of USD 32 million from the Thai Exim Bank for the project.

The Radisson Hotel was planned with 250 rooms and 500 bed capacity set to open at 2013. But it was pushed back due to financial difficulties.

Radisson Blu is a global hotel brand run by the American company Carlson Rezidor.