Muscat: Golden Group Holding on Monday signed a hotel management agreement with Movenpick Hotels & Resorts to manage Movenpick Hotel Muscat at Al Mawaleh within the mixed-use project. The project includes a four-star Movenpick Hotel, modern offices, luxury apartments and retail outlets. The project has a total area of 16,000 square metres and a total investment of OMR60 million.
The agreement was signed under the auspices of Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mehrezi, Minister of Tourism, on the sidelines of the Second International Conference on Tourism and Culture.
Movenpick-Muscat is a four-star hotel strategically located next to the Muscat International Airport at the intersection of two major roads - Sultan Qaboos Highway and Almouj street - in the busy district of Al Mawaleh. It has 250 hotel rooms, 115 serviced apartments, two restaurants, meeting rooms, as well as wellness and leisure facilities that include health club steam rooms and saunas, a swimming pool and a separate conference and convention hall with a total capacity to accommodate 1,000 people.
Golden Group Holding is one of the leading business houses in the field of hotel investments in the Sultanate. The ceremony was held at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre in Muscat on December 11, 2017.
Movenpick-Muscat project is part of an ambitious strategic plan of the Golden Group Holding to expand and create partnerships with international hospitality operators. This comes in line with the steady growth witnessed by the Sultanate in the recent years and the building of many infrastructure projects and services. The signing of this hotel management agreement and previous strategic alliances of the group in the hospitality sector will include approximately 1,700 hotel rooms during the next five years in the major cities of the Sultanate by establishing five-, four- and three-star hotels, which will contribute to the pace of tourism development in the Sultanate and enhance the hospitality sector.
This is also a strong sign of the confidence being placed in the Omani hospitality sector by international hotel management companies, such as the renowned Movenpick Hotels & Resorts, as well as the confidence of the Omani private sector represented by Golden Group Holding in the hospitality and hotel sector in the Sultanate.
“We are delighted to sign with Movenpick Hotels & Resorts to manage Movenpick-Muscat, which will contribute greatly to the group’s investment strategy in the hospitality sector in the coming stage,” said Sheikh Salim bin Ahmed Al Ghazali, Chairman of Golden Group Holding.
“I am delighted to inform you that the operation has now started at Mysk Hotel by Shaza, a four-star hotel in the Wave Muscat area. The construction work is underway in Shaza Hotel & Resort at Salalah, which is a five-star hotel and resort that is expected to open in the second quarter of the next year. I am also pleased to inform you that Rayhaan by Rotana, a four-star hotel in Wave Muscat and Hotel Centro Sohar, a four-star hotel, are in the advanced stages of design, and our hospitality and development teams are working tirelessly to start the construction in the near future.”
The group’s investment in this vital sector is a result of the steady growth and the rapid increase in the demand for three-, four- and five-star hotel rooms. Our agreement today with Movenpick Hotels & Resorts coincides with the commercial launch of the Muscat International Airport, which will create a qualitative leap in the number of flights coming to the Sultanate. This requires doubling of the residence and hotel services.
“Our vision at Golden Group Holding is to distribute the investment portfolio in the hospitality sector across the Sultanate and to create investments with added value and positive impact on the community, creating job opportunities for the Omanis, supporting the local community and contributing to the development, besides revitalising the national economy,” noted Sheikh Salim.
Golden Group Holding is among the leading national companies in the investment sector in the Sultanate. Its investments are diversified among various sectors such as construction, real estate development, hospitality, retail, oil and gas, travel and tourism, logistics, facilities management and project management. “Movenpick Hotels & Resorts is pursuing ambitious regional expansion plans, and Muscat is a priority market, inspired by government and private sector investments in developments designed to boost the contribution of tourism to the Sultanate’s economy,” stated Olivier Chavy, president and CEO of Movenpick Hotels & Resorts.