sharen@nst.com.my
The Andaman, a five-star resort in Langkawi that burned down earlier this year, will most likely reopen in the second half of 2023.
According to Landmarks Bhd, the resort's reconstruction and restoration will begin in the first quarter of 2022 and will take up to 30 months.
The company said the designer team has begun work on the new resort's design.
The claims for the resort's fire losses are also progressing well, it said in a recent stock exchange filing.
The Andaman, a Luxury Collection Resort under the Marriott International umbrella, was severely damaged in two fires that broke out within hours on January 12, effectively destroying one entire block of the rainforest resort.
The resort is managed by the Marriott Group and is owned locally by Andaman Resort Sdn Bhd, a Landmarks subsidiary.
According to reports, Landmarks is collaborating with super-luxury hotel designer Jean-Michel Gathy, the principal of Denniston, who is responsible for some of the world's most iconic hotels, to rebuild the property.
Landmarks, a 24.98 per cent-owned associate of Genting Bhd is a major player in the resort and wellness industry. Its earnings are primarily derived from The Andaman and Treasure Bay Bintan, an Indonesian 338-hectare waterfront resort city.
Recently, the company released its unaudited interim results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2021 (3Q 2021).
Landmarks reported a net loss of RM15.72 million for the nine months, a significant improvement or 79 per cent lower than the net loss of RM48.1 million reported in the same period a year ago.
The company stated that the decrease in losses was primarily due to the recognition of estimated insurance receivables of RM140 million for The Andaman, while affected property, plant, and equipment totaling RM106.38 million were written off and impaired as a result of the fire incident.
It also stated that Treasure Bay Bintan incurred a lower operating loss following the sale of the Natra Bintan Hotel in late 2020.
Moving forward, the company is optimistic about the tourism industry's recovery, citing rising vaccination rates around the world and countries opening their borders to business and travel.
It stated that the opening of tourism hotspots such as Phuket Thailand with its Phuket Sandbox arrangements and Bali Indonesia with its Vaccinated Travel Lanes has increased tourist traffic to the two destinations.
"The surge in tourism demand has been encouraging and we foresee the demand to travel will continue to increase as countries continue to take steps to ease the restrictions previously imposed on overseas travelers," it said.
According to Landmarks, Treasure Bay Bintan has recently experienced an increase in both occupancy and room rate, which will be boosted further with the opening of the Singapore border.
The Indonesian government and local authorities in Bintan have been in active discussions with the Singapore Economic Development Board and the Singapore Tourism Board to open a travel lane between Singapore and Bintan, according to the statement.
"We expect there will be a surge in demand for our resorts should this happen," the company said.
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