Sol Meliá, today announced an agreement to open a new five star hotel in Indonesia, Meliá Adhiwangsa Surabaya, increasing its presence in the Asia-Pacific region, a key focus for company growth strategy since it announced its globalisation and diversification strategy for emerging markets.

The hotel will open in 2013 and is located in Surabaya, the second largest city in Indonesia, located on the north coast of the island of Java, and an important industrial and business centre with a thriving port and strong economic growth along with a growing number of visitors which are boosting the local hotel industry.

The new Meliá Adhiwangsa Surabaya will form part of a major leisure development which includes a shopping mall and golf course, both already open to the public. The hotel will provide 300 rooms, all fully adapted to the standards of the Meliá brand, and will thus help consolidate the positioning of the Spanish brand in Indonesia. Amongst the facilities provided by the hotel are a Spa, swimming pool, children’s area, two restaurants, and extensive facilities for meetings and event, in addition to the golf course.

The fifth hotel for Sol Meliá in Indonesia is owned by the Bukit Darmo Property Group and will be operated by Sol Meliá under a management agreement. Indonesia is the country where Sol Meliá opened its first hotel outside Spain over 25 years ago: the Meliá Bali, thus kicking off a globalisation process which now sees Asia–Pacific back at the heart of growth objectives for the coming years.

In December 2009, Sol Meliá inaugurated its first hotel in China, the Gran Meliá Shanghai, and also boosted its corporate team in the region. Less than a month ago the company announced a strategic alliance with the leading hotel company in China, Jin Jiang, to support Sol Meliá development in China. The Spanish hotel chain is thus preparing for exponential growth in Asia, the region which is expecting the highest growth in tourism and travel in the future. Gabriel Escarrer, Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Sol Meliá, also highlighted the increasing interest in Indonesia: “in addition to being a major focus for development, travel destinations in Asia–Pacific such as Indonesia are also the preferred destinations of Chinese outbound travel, a market which is increasing exponentially every year”.