MALTA: EXCELLENT MIX OF BUSINESS AND HOLIDAY AT THE CORINTHIA SAN GORG HOTEL.

(From InfoProd)

Stumbling on the tiny island of Malta for a business conference, I spent a few nights at the five-star Corinthia San Gorg Hotel. Excited about getting away from it all, the Corinthia San Gorg has not disappointed. Let me first tell the interesting story of Corinthia Group, which owns the hotel. The Corinthia Group started out in Malta. In 1959, Mr. Paul Pisani acquired an elegant villa surrounded by orange trees near the Presidential Palace with the intention of entering the hotel business. In 1968, after extension of the villa, the Group opened its first hotel - the five-star Corinthia Palace Hotel. In 1974, Corinthia Group concluded its first venture into outside-catering by winning a contract to operate the restaurant at the Malta International Airport and later also providing in-flight catering for Air Malta and other international airlines flying out of the Island. This was followed by contracts in Libya, where Corinthia supplied catering at the Libya airport and at other Libyan institutions including universities and oilfields. In 1990 Corinthia took its major step overseas with the acquisition of its first hotel in Turkey, later to be joined by another four properties on Turkey's Antalya coast. In 1996, Corinthia Group entered mainland Europe, acquiring the five-star Corinthia Aquincum Hotel and spa in Budapest. Further acquisitions in Europe included upscale hotels in Belgium, Czech Republic, Portugal and also a hotel in St Petersburg, Russia. At present, under the Corinthia Hotels International flag, the Group now owns or manages 20 hotels in 11 countries, and operates in industrial catering, construction and project management. The annual turnover of Corinthia is about US$ 230 million with a staff of 5,000 people. Corinthia group's strategy is to expand towards more countries and develop new relationships and ventures with other parties. The group is seeking to increase its market share of MICE business, which is considered more profitable and better suited to its city hotels environ. A further aim is to go public in one of the major international financial markets. A major development in the history of Corinthia was in 2004 as two major US Oil Companies, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil, signed a long term agreement with Corinthia to lease areas in the latter's Commercial Centre in Tripoli, Libya. The commercial center is part of the five star Corinthia Bab Africa Hotel, which is setting new standards of excellence in Tripoli's hotel scene. This important move reflected the end of the American boycott on Corinthia following the joining of the Government of Libya to the ownership of the Group. Washington had imposed a ban on Americans doing business with Libyan enterprises in 1986 as punishment for Libya's alleged sponsorship of international terrorism. There were 21 Maltese companies with a Libyan connection on the US ...