30 November 2001HONG KONG - The 517-room Furama Hotel Hong Kong will
close its doors tomorrow, after 28 years of service.
Remembered most for its revolving restaurant, many locals
flocked to the hotel today to snap their last shots of the
harbour from the 30th floor La Ronda Revolving Restaurant
and savour their last buffet lunch there. A leading global
insurance company is expected to build a new office tower
at the place of the landmark hotel.
Retailers at Furama are sad to see it go.
Joan Lai, business development manager for the Furama
branch of Gray Line Tours, which has been operating there
for the past five years says they were able to generate a
good deal of business from business travellers staying at
the hotel.
Tomorrow, a new Gray Line Tours branch will open in the
Island Pacific Hotel Hong Kong.
Developed by Furama Hotel Enterprises Ltd.
(FHEL), the hotel opened in 1973. The hotel was managed
by Inter-Continental Hotels Ltd. in 1976 for a period of 15
years until Kempinski Hotels SA of Germany took over the
reigns in 1990. The hotel was then re-named Hotel Furama
Kempinski Hong Kong.
Two years later, FHEL formed a management subsidiary
company known as Majestic International Hotels Ltd. (MIHL),
headed by Adrian Fu, CEO. In September 1997, FHEL was the
handed over to the Lai Sun Group, and Tim Yung replaced Fu
as CEO. MIHL officially changed their name to Furama Hotels
& Resorts International (FHRI) in the same year.
The Furama has 600 employees who will receive
compensation packages in accordance with the Hong Kong
Labour Ordinance.