By Tupuola Terry Tavita

Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi will hold talks with a China-based company in Cheng-do who are interested in building a multi-million tala hotel in Samoa.

Tuilaepa is attending the Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries underway in Istanbul, Turkey but will stop over in Beijing on the 13th of the month on his way back.

“I’ve been told that the company is looking at using Samoa as a midway point – a midway stopover – for Chinese flights to South America,�? said Tuilaepa.

“So they are exploring the possibility of developing top accommodation here for the growing traffic of Chinese travelers – particular tourists to South America.�?

Though the Prime Minister welcomes hotel investment in the country, Samoa’s experience with foreign investors proposing similar hotel projects makes government somewhat skeptical.

“We have a very attractive investments incentives scheme in place and we’ve had a lot of so-called big time investors proposing to do this and that,’ said the Prime Minister.

“The fact that – apart from a couple of foreign-owned medium scale resorts that have been established – since independence, nearly 50 years ago, nothing has come of these big proposals we regularly get.

“In saying that, we’re willing to listen to what this (Chinese) company will bring to the table.�?

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