The New Zealand first Sports Ambassador to the Pacific Valerie Adams was welcomed at Tonga’s newest Tanoa International Dateline Hotel today.
The four-star hotel had a soft launch on Tuesday 1 to give its staff and equipment a test run before it would be officially opened by His Majesty King Tupou VI in February 16, 2017, Radio FM87.5 reported.
The hotel’s General Manager Peter Kerr was quoted by the radio as saying the Hotel spent NZ$18 million on renovation and upgrade.
“Just a soft launch today what does that mean is to give the opportunity to run the hotel in and check for any anomalies that we may have with our generators, our boilers and electricity and that would provide us the opportunity to iron up and make changes to the system….”, Kerr said.
Adams was in Tonga to conduct coaching clinics with up and coming and elite athletes and, promote having a healthy lifestyles and encourage participation in physical activity.
The 32-year-old, who has Tongan heritage, was appointed to her ambassadorial role last week.
The Tanoa Hotel was originally known as Dateline International Hotel and it was solely owned and operated by the Tongan government before it was purchased by Janful company.
However, in December 2012 the ownership was returned to the government after the Chinese company went into liquidation.
The government paid and cleared off the company’s debts.
In 2015 the government and Tanoa Hotel Group signed an agreement for the Tano’a to refurbish and operated the hotel.
According to the Hotel’s website bookings now are open to the public.
