MERITUS Hotels & Resorts yesterday signed an agreement with Funtasy Island Development (FID) to manage the latter’s upcoming accommodation facilities on Riau Islands, Indonesia, located 20 minutes from Singapore.
Funtasy Island is a mixed-use complex with residential, commercial and tourism components, the first phase of which will open by mid-2014. At 328 hectares, the island itself is two-thirds the size of Sentosa and situated between Batam and Singapore.
Meritus will run the five-star deluxe resort development, which comprises a 200-room condotel, a 230-suite hotel and 413 villas.
Speaking to TTG Asia e-Daily, FID director Michael Yong confirmed that Meritus would be the only hotel brand present on Funtasy Island. He said: “Meritus stands out among other hotel brands for its ability to connect very well with Singaporean and Asian markets, and that is what we want to provide to visitors.”
He expects the island to draw one million visitors per year once it is fully opened in 10 years’ time.
Chua Tian Chu, deputy chief, Meritus Hotels & Resorts, said the resort development on Funtasy Island would feature “open concept designs”, unlike typical urban city hotels, to tie in with the theme of ecotourism.
The island is being positioned as one of the world’s largest eco theme parks, with 70 per cent of its total area dedicated for use as a nature sanctuary, featuring eco-themed activities like aquaculture tours and nature trails.
Located 16km from Singapore, daily services from the HarbourFront ferry terminal will be provided once the first phase of development is launched.
Construction on the island, which comprises six Indonesian islets, had actually begun as early as April 2011 (TTG Asia e-Daily, March 23, 2011).
