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The Ray Group Appoints Outrigger to Operate
Planned US$41 Resort at Kingscliff in
Northern New South Wales
HONOLULU, OAHU, HAWAII - September 18, 2002 - At a recent news conference in Australia, it was announced that Outrigger Hotels & Resorts has been appointed to manage a new US$41 million resort to be built at Kingscliff in northern New South Wales.  The property will be an integral part of a planned environmentally friendly US$192 million seaside tourism and residential village development to be known as "Salt." 
        
The resort will be named "Outrigger On The Beach at Salt" and will represent Outrigger's largest resort in Australia as well as its first property outside of the state of Queensland.
        
This announcement brings the number of properties operated by Outrigger Hotels & Resorts in Australia to ten, which places the company well on target of its goal of having 20 resorts in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific by 2005.
        
According to Bill Henderson, Outrigger's Vice President of Business Development, "This first Outrigger resort in New South Wales marks a significant addition to our growing portfolio of high quality resorts in Australia's major leisure destinations."
        
"Our earlier announcements of a second resort in the community of Port Douglas and the opening of an Outrigger office in Auckland, New Zealand, are further evidence of our commitment to become a major factor in lodging markets for the leisure, meeting, conference and incentive business throughout Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific," Henderson said.
        
Dave Lawrence, Outrigger's Vice President and General Director for Australia, said, "New South Wales has been in our sights for some time and we have been eager for a development of Salt's caliber to launch into the State."
        
When the Outrigger on the Beach at Salt opens in early 2004, Outrigger will manage 318 suites. Conference facilities for up to 400 delegates, plus a mix of bar, restaurant, retail and recreational facilities places the resort in good standing of capturing a slice of the lucrative meetings and incentives market. 
        
"Outrigger will play a major role in drawing larger scale conference delegations to the region, and we will be tapping into our extensive sales and marketing network to target the Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne markets," Lawrence said.
        
"There is nothing like this development in the area. Once completed, we will be able to host delegations of up to 400 people by offering a total resort package."
        
"Additional transport infrastructure upgrades combined with the expansion of Coolangatta Airport - just a 15 minute drive from Kingscliff - augers very well for the region."
        
Lawrence said the development's strong environmental focus would be promoted to the inbound soft/eco adventure markets of Europe and the United Kingdom. 
        
"In addition to the meetings market, Outrigger On The Beach at Salt will appeal to the self-drive and inbound packaged tour segments, both heavily promoted through Outrigger's worldwide marketing network," Lawrence said. "We conducted an overseas sales trip earlier this year to specifically promote our Australian resorts which achieved strong support from agents around the world. A similar resort that we are opening in Hervey Bay in early 2003 targeting the  soft/eco traveler received overwhelming response among international travel operators, and I expect Outrigger On The Beach to mirror Hervey Bay's appeal, based on its strong environmental focus."
        
Lawrence said Outrigger was again looking forward to working with the Ray Group, which brings the number of Ray Group developed properties managed by Outrigger to four.
        
In 2000, Outrigger opened two Ray Group properties in Cairns and Coolangatta, with its third, Outrigger On The Inlet at Port Douglas, set to open in October this year. 
        
"The Ray Group's reputation for developing quality tourist accommodation projects is well recognized, and complements Outrigger's position throughout the Pacific for providing premier, coastal resort holidays," Lawrence said.
        
"While the Outrigger on the Beach at Salt is our first property outside of Queensland, it will not be our last," Henderson said. "We are involved in ongoing discussions related to several other locations throughout Australia, as well as additional locations in Queensland. We also expect to announce our first Outrigger location in New Zealand soon."
        
Henderson concluded by saying, "As we continue to seek appropriate opportunities in the Pacific, we have found that regional owners and developers feel very comfortable dealing with a group that is the largest hospitality management company that was both 'born' and is still headquartered in the region."
        
Since Outrigger's move into the Australian resorts markets in 1998, the company has expanded into Queensland's leading and emerging tourism centers and now manages in excess of US$208 million worth of property.  Worldwide, Outrigger owns or operates resorts totaling more than US$1.4 billion. 
        
Outrigger Hotels & Resorts is division of Outrigger Enterprises, Inc., the largest locally owned lodging company in Hawaii and one of the fastest growing lodging companies in the Pacific. Under its two hotel brands - Outrigger Hotels & Resorts and OHANA Hotels & Resorts - the company currently operates or has under development 46 hotels and resorts throughout the Pacific region, representing more than 12,000 hotel rooms and condominium units in Hawaii,  Micronesia, Australia and the South Pacific. Outrigger's affiliate, Outrigger Lodging Services, operates nearly two-dozen hotels and resorts throughout the U.S. Mainland.

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Contact:
Jim Austin, Director of Public Relations
Outrigger Hotels & Resorts / OHANA Hotels & Resorts
2375 Kuhio Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96815-2992
(808) 921-6941
[email protected]
www.outrigger.com

Also See The Ray Group Opens a 22-story Luxury Hotel - the Outrigger Coolangatta Beach Resort; Managed by Outrigger Hotels & Resorts / April 2000
Ray Group Appoints Outrigger Hotels & Resorts to Manage New Luxury Resort at Port Douglas in the Australian State of Queensland / December 2001


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