US hotel chain eyes Dar es salaam, Zanzibar in its Africa expansion plan
Dar es Salaam. An American multi-national hospitality group, Radisson Hotel, is looking for opportunities to invest in eco-tourism projects in Tanzania.
In a statement distributed on Tuesday by Apo Group the firm said it was targeting Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar as part of its Africa expansion plan.
The hotel’s public relations manager for Africa and Indian Ocean, Ms Saadiyah Hendricks, said they were also investigating opportunities in Mombasa and Diani, a major beach resort on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya.
She added that they were also exploring eco-tourism projects, leveraging the National Parks in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya.
“We are proud to announce the signing of 11 new hotels in Africa within the first nine months of 2019, accelerating our expansion across the continent,” noted Ms Hendricks.
This brings the Group’s African portfolio to almost 100 hotels and over 17,000 rooms in operation and under development across 32 African countries.
The plan on card was to hit over 130 hotels and 23,000 rooms in the next three years.
Mr Andrew McLachlan, Radisson Hotel Group Senior Vice President, Development, Sub Sahara Africa, said East Africa presents unique bush and beach opportunities.
“It has been a really robust year for our business, especially in Africa, a continent we strongly believe in.”
“This year alone we have signed a new hotel deal every 25 days, each aligned with our focused development strategy which includes the introduction of new brands and scaled growth in key cities where we can develop and operate multiple hotels within the same city,” noted Mr McLachlan.
This, he said, will result in many operating synergies and cost benefits to each hotel located in the same city.
He said they were currently focusing on 23 of the 60 larger cities in Africa and have a proven track record.
“We are proud that our flagship brand, Radisson Blu, has for a second year in a row secured the top spot as Africa’s fastest growing hotel brand,” he expounded.
