TALLINN - Infortar, majority owner of the Tallink shipping line, said it was developing plans to open hotels in several major cities in Russia, Finland and the Baltics, and would attract other investors for the Tallink City leisure center in the Lasnamae region of Tallinn.
Chairman Ain Hanschmidt told the Baltic News Service that it was still early to speak about concrete investment plans for Tallink City, but he did not rule out taking a loan to cover the investment. He also said there was no written agreement with the city for the project, but that he expected cooperation from the city.
Hanschmidt said that other crucial aspects in building Tallink City, a 160,000 square meter leisure center, would be transport issues and road construction.
Economy Minister Edgar Savisaar, Tallinn Mayor Juri Ratas and Lasnamae district chief Kalle Klandorf, all from the Center Party, expressed their support for the project.
Tallink City will feature a downhill slope and skiing tunnel, both of which will function year-round. The total cost of the project will be 4 's 5 billion kroons (256 's 319 million euros).
The center should be completed by 2010 in time for the next local elections.
In the meantime, Infortar said it wanted to launch a hotel business also in Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev, in addition to Tallinn and Riga, according to Hanschmidt.
"A subsidiary has been established in Kiev, with one person operating there," Hanschmidt told the daily Eesti Paevaleht. "We have the Helsinki hotel already on paper."
He said that in his opinion there weren't too many hotels in Tallinn. "We are planning 300-350 room hotels in Riga and St. Petersburg, but are undecided about a spa, it depends on the talks. The aim is synergy between Infortar and Tallink," Hanschmidt said.
The former Uhispank chief said the aim of building the hotels was "to achieve scale" in order to show high sales and profit figures. "We will attempt to do things ourselves. One operator, one chain 's we will attempt this policy," he said.
