Marriott to Build 50 Hotels in Nigeria, S’Africa, Egypt

Marriott International Incorporated plans to build about 50 hotels in NIGERIA, South Africa and Egypt each before 2020, to benefit from a surge of travelers, the company’s president for the Middle East and Africa, Alex Kyriakidis has revealed.

 Bloomberg quoted Kyriakidis to have explained that the plan is to add 10,000 hotel rooms apiece in Africa’s THREE biggest economies, targeting “super growth” based on their economic potential and tourist attractions.

Speaking in an interview in Addis Ababa, Kyriakidis said: “We see tremendous growth opportunities in Egypt.”

“As NIGERIA’s economy powers on, the demand for hotel rooms is going to be substantially greater.”

The Bethesda, Maryland-based company sees the region as

its highest revenue-growth market to 2020, Kyriakidis added.

The owner of brands including Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance is boosting its presence in Africa after purchasing Cape Town-based Protea Hospitality Holdings for about $200 million in April.

It would open nine hotels with a total of 1,300 rooms in the NEXT 14 months in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Ghana, Uganda and South Africa, Kyriakidis added.

Occupancy rates at the chain’s hotels in Egypt’s capital, Cairo, and at Red Sea resorts have increased to 60 per cent to 75 per cent from 30 per cent to 45 per cent since the May election of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, he said.

Security concerns in NIGERIA triggered by deadly bomb attacks won’t deter Marriott from further investment in the West African nation as the company is planning over the long term, its Chief Executive Officer Arne Sorenson had said.

The company is also boosting its presence in the Middle East, where it is focusing on the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, Kyriakidis added.

The Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Incorporated had also disclosed  plans to add as much as 20 hotels in Africa over the NEXT four years, as the US owner of the Sheraton and St Regis brands takes advantage of rising travel in the continent.

The US firm is seeking to add mainly five-star properties to its existing set of 37 hotels,

Its senior vice president for acquisitions and development in Africa and the Middle East, Neil George had confirmed that five of the new sites are earmarked for NIGERIA, Africa’s biggest economy and most populous nation with about 170 million people.

International hoteliers are seeking to expand in African countries to exploit an increase in travel and higher economic growth rates than in the US and Europe.

Thisday