Protea Hotels Archives | For Immediate Release | Official News Wire for the Travel Industry

Marriott International expects to add 19 new properties and more than 3,000 rooms to its Middle East and Africa portfolio in 2019. Underpinning a strong demand for its diverse brands, the new additions are in line with the company’s expansion plans to add more than 100 new properties and nearly 26,000 rooms across the region by the end of 2023. Marriott estimates its development pipeline through 2023 represents up to $8 billion of investment from property owners and is expected to generate over 20,000 new jobs across the region.

“Our growth across the Middle East and Africa is fuelled by a strong demand for our diverse range of well-established brands, each offering different attributes that cater to this region’s ever changing and evolving marketplace,” said Jerome Briet, Chief Development Officer, Middle East & Africa, Marriott International. “This region continues to present us with opportunities to further grow and enhance our portfolio across new and established markets. While the majority of our growth will be through new-builds, we are seeing an increasing number of conversion opportunities, especially in the luxury space.”

Year-to-date, the company has opened five new properties in the region and is expected to add 14 more – bringing its portfolio across the Middle East and Africa to nearly 270 properties and over 60,000 rooms – by the end of the year.

Unwavering Demand for Luxury Brands that offer Unrivalled Experiences

The company is poised to expand its luxury footprint in the region by more than 70 percent by the end of 2023, with more than 25 luxury properties under development. The company expects to grow its luxury portfolio in 2019 with seven anticipated openings across four brands:

With the recent opening of W Dubai – The Palm and the anticipated openings of W Muscat and W Yas Island, W Hotels should double its portfolio in the region.
St. Regis anticipates debuting in Jordan and Egypt with the openings of The St. Regis Amman and The St. Regis Cairo.
The iconic North Island is expected to of world-renowned hotels and resorts.
JW Marriott anticipates marking its entry into Oman with the opening of the JW Marriott Muscat Convention Center.

Substantial Growth across Premium Brands

The growth of Marriott’s premium brands remains steady across the region with more than 30 hotels expected to be added to the portfolio by the end of 2023. By the end of 2019, the company expects to have added four new hotels under its premium portfolio for the region:

The Autograph Collection anticipates marking its debut in Kenya with the addition of Sankara Nairobi.
Marriott Hotels and Marriott Executive Apartments strengthened its presence in Saudi Arabia with the recent openings in the Diplomatic Quarter of Riyadh. Marriott Executive Apartments is also expected to open a new property in Madinah later this year.
Marriott Hotels is also planning to open its second property in Algeria, in the capital city of Algiers

In addition to the openings in 2019, Marriott is also focused on the transformation journey of Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, the company’s most global brand. In the region, Sheraton Jeddah Hotel and Sheraton Grand Hotel, Dubai are currently undergoing renovations that represent the brand’s vision for the future.

Regional Demand for Select-Service Hotels Continues to Fuel Growth

Currently representing over 40 percent of the company’s development pipeline through 2023, select-serve brands continue their rapid growth trajectory across the Middle East and Africa. Building on the momentum from 2018 – with ten properties added across the region, including four Aloft hotels in the UAE – the company expects to add seven new properties by the end of this year:

Four Points by Sheraton anticipates expanding its portfolio with a total of four openings in 2019.The brand recently opened properties in in Sharjah (UAE) and Setif (Algeria) and is on-track to open two more properties this year including, Four Points by Sheraton Dar es Salaam New Africa in Tanzania and Four Points by Sheraton Lahore in Pakistan.
Residence Inn by Marriott expects to make its debut in Algeria with the opening of Residence Inn by Marriott Algiers
Protea Hotels by Marriott plans to expand the brand in Uganda with the opening of Protea Hotel by Marriott Naguru Skyz.
Element Hotels is set to launch its first property in Africa with the opening of Element Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

Travel News | eTurboNews

The official launch of the African Tourism Board is only about two weeks away. On April 11 at 15.30 the Cape Town International Convention Centre Conference Theatre during World Travel Market Africa will be the venue where Africa becomes one tourist destination.

Cape Town is a good example where the Human Right to travel is so important. Avukile Mabombo, Group Marketing Manager, Protea Hotels by Marriott summarizes his love for Cape Town:

In a former age in South Africa, locals were boxed in, unable to explore their own country, limited to pockets of land within cities and rural areas. This, quite rightly, has changed, opening the curtain on a wealth of activities and experiences to be explored – a country for the people. There’s a rising interest among the black, middle class traveller to do just that. Of course, besides places of natural beauty, there are many places that preserve heritage, and it’s worthwhile checking them out.

From Robben Island to the Pass Office

Cape Town, as much as it seems to be a vibey holiday space, has just as much of a role in the country’s history. Fortunately, we’ve sought to redress the inequalities of the past and to turn them into opportunities for locals. We respect their sometimes-chilling place in memory, but we celebrate that we’re leaving that era back in the “dustbin of history”, to use a phrase once quoted by Leon Trotsky.

Robben Island: San Francisco, another global destination, may boast Alcatraz, the former prison, as a tourist attraction, but Robben Island’s place on our tourism itinerary is an iconic one for a different reason, being the place where Nelson Mandela, Robert Sobukwe, Kgalema Motlanthe, Neville Alexander, Mac Maharaj and Harry Gwala, as well as other political leaders were imprisoned, in addition to thousands of ordinary struggle foot soldiers. The rugged island dominating Table Bay is an essential one for heritage tourism. Just across the bay is the Breakwater Lodge in the heart of the V&A Waterfront, a former prison now operating as Protea Hotel in conjunction with the UCT Graduate School of Business, a reclaimed space within our city that’s engaging with the past by undergoing a renovation to place historic visuals and artifacts in display.

Back on land, it’s possible to visit many places that echo this historical journey. The Slave Lodge in Adderley Street, the Pass Office in Langa, the Amy Biehl Memorial in Gugulethu and other spots in Cape Town call for a meditative visit, perhaps a walking tour that allows for reflection.

Such neighborhoods themselves still remind us of the spacial disparities that existed then and that exist still, although innovative tourism entrepreneurs have spotted the opportunity to present a vibrant tourism offering in spite of those memories.

Giving the storytellers a voice

What makes the local tourism special is that you can speak to people now serving as tour guides for whom our heritage is their lived experience. They have first-hand accounts of what went on, who was involved and how we have managed to overcome as a society; their accounts are spine-chilling, relevant and meaningful, and it’s worth making the effort to chat to those storytellers whose oral histories echo our written ones.

Most importantly, reflecting on heritage as a part of the tourism experience enables us to hold a more balanced account of the future, acknowledging that the past is alive and that it has an impact on how we experience life in our growing metropolis. We don’t need to hide our heritage – in fact, we must shine a spotlight on it, even the shameful parts, so that we can tell our local and international visitors how we have grown, and just why we are optimistic that our spaces aren’t some kind of historical Chernobyl, Ukraine – a region closed off to the world following that catastrophic nuclear accident in the 80s. As catastrophic as our own history has been in many ways, we have learned how to adapt and appreciate our freedom, as well as the opportunity to tell those riveting stories and to keep our struggle heroes alive in memory.

Why not adventure into our heritage today? Your exploration translates into jobs for locals, economic benefits and transformation at its deepest roots.

For more information on African Tourism Board visit www.africantourismboard.com

Travel News | eTurboNews

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