After a year and a half and with an investment of $1.5 million, the Hotel Colón in Salinas reopened its doors

The restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the business to the point of interrupting its service in the last months of 2020.

Guests going up and down the elevators, enjoying the pools or thespaand the restaurant, service and administration staff working, are situations that have not been seen for 18 months at the Hotel Colón Salinas.

And the doors of this iconic hotel, located in the Salinas canton of the province of Santa Elena, reopened after the restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the business to the point of interrupting its service, after almost 20 years, in the last months of 2020.

With 129 rooms and under the management administration of the Hilton Colón Quito, the former Barceló Colón Miramar reopens with an approximate investment of $1.5 million and improvements to the facilities, Alberto Dassum, president of the hotel's board of directors, said this Friday afternoon.

“It has been a titanic job,” said Dassum, who recalled that the chain to which they were previously affiliated decided to withdraw by mutual agreement and that to make this reopening a reality they had the support of private banks to refinance their “very long-term” liabilities. ”, revealed the businessman. “The worst days are over,” he said during the reopening ceremony.

The Minister of Tourism, Niels Olsen, was present at the event, who highlighted the private investment made for the rehabilitation of the hotel.

Olsen assured that during the fourth quarter of 2021, tourism was the third sector with the highest growth in the national economy with 19.4%, except for oil.

The Secretary of State also revealed that an investment project, already prioritized, of $47.5 million from 2022 to 2025 was obtained to promote Ecuador in international markets.

Meanwhile, the hotel group also provided figures for the sector, indicating that in 2019 the incidence of the tourism sector in the non-oil GVA (Gross Value Added) was 2.3%, decreasing to 1.2% during 2020. and 2021. “In 2022 and 2023, we aspire to a boom of tourism as a response to the confinement and restrictions of previous years,” it was indicated.

Meanwhile, regarding the hotel, Dassum said that it reopened with 75 jobs and assured that almost all of them are personnel who worked at the hotel. Before the pandemic, the hotel generated approximately 130 direct jobs.

The president of the board of directors assured that as the business reactivates more, it is planned to open more jobs.

Meanwhile, among the remodeled areas are the rooms of the Main Tower, hallways and public areas, thus all its areas will continue to be progressively modernized.

“Salinas is a highlight of the Ecuadorian coastal profile and a highly valued destination by national and foreign tourists who demand facilities with world-class infrastructure. “Our hotel group has been in this destination for more than 20 years and has always seen this destination as an opportunity to provide attractive offers to individual guests, families and executive groups, as well as for events such as conventions, incentives and congresses,” he commented. Dassum.