HONG 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.