JANUARY 27, 2011 - The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, announces their 10th hotel in West Africa: The Radisson Blu Hotel, Accra in Ghana is scheduled to open in 2013 and adds 168 rooms to Rezidor's pipeline.
"The emerging African continent is a key development area for Rezidor. We are delighted to add a new hotel in a new country to our portfolio which now comprises 37 hotels and almost 8,300 rooms in operation and under development across 15 African countries", said Kurt Ritter, President & CEO of Rezidor.
An independent study in 2010 proclaimed Rezidor's development pipeline to be the largest in Sub-Saharan Africa. Rezidor's flagship properties on the African continent consist of Radisson Blu Sandton, Radisson Blu Gautrain Sandton, Radisson Blu Port Elizabeth, Park Inn Sandton and Radisson Blu Waterfront in South Africa, the Radisson Blu Dakar in Senegal, Radisson Blu Tripoli, Libya and the Radisson Blu Thalasso, Djerba, off the coast of Tunisia.
The Radisson Blu Hotel, Accra, will be located in the heart of the business district of the Ghanaian capital; 5 walking minutes from the beach. Besides 168 guest rooms including 20 apartments ranging from 1 to 3 bedrooms, the property will offer a restaurant and 2 bars, 300m2 of meeting space, a gym, and an outdoor swimming pool.
One of the most economically and politically stable countries in Africa, Ghana has experienced several years of sustained economic growth, despite the global economic situation. Good fiscal management and high prices for key commodities like gold and cocoa have sustained the economy and the IMF projects accelerated growth in the coming years. Moreover, in December 2010 Ghana began to pump its first commercial oil from the offshore Jubilee Field, which contains an estimated 1.5 billion barrels of oil, and is projected to generate $1 billion in government revenues annually.
"Africa is an exciting market with huge natural resources, increasingly stable systems and improved infrastructure, a high GDP growth and - last but not least - an imbalance of supply and demand when it comes to modern, internationally branded hotel rooms. We see a great potential for profitable growth in Africa and are actively seeking for further development opportunities", commented Andrew McLachlan, Vice President for business development for Africa and Indian Ocean Islands.
"Our entry into Ghana's capital city Accra follows our African strategy to which is to enter new countries with hotels in their capital cities with our core brand Radisson Blu first as we have done in hotels in Maputo, Mozambique, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Lusaka, Zambia all expected to
open during 2011. In addition we have hotels projects in Luanda, Angola, Kigali, Rwanda and Nairobi, Kenya" says McLachlan
.
About The Rezidor Hotel Group
The Rezidor Hotel Group is one of the fastest growing hotel companies in the world. The group features a portfolio of more than 400 hotels in operation and under development with 86,300 rooms in over 60 countries.
Rezidor operates the brands Radisson Blu Hotels & Resorts, Park Inn by Radisson and Country Inns & Suites in Europe, Middle East and Africa,along with the goldpointsplusSM loyalty programme for frequent hotel guests. Under a worldwide licence agreement with the iconic Italian fashion house Missoni, Rezidor also operates and develops the new lifestyle brand Hotel Missoni.
In November 2006, Rezidor was listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange. Carlson, a privately held, global hospitality and travel company, based in Minneapolis (USA), is the majority shareholder.
The Corporate office of the Rezidor Hotel Group is based in Brussels, Belgium.
For more information on Rezidor, visit
