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Protea, Marriott Building More Hotels In Nigeria, Ghana

Protea, Marriott Building More Hotels In Nigeria, Ghana

Protea Hospitality Holdings is building five-star and three-star hotels in Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, adding 400 rooms to the 700 it already has in the country, Bloomberg reports.

Protea also plans to expand elsewhere in Nigeria, focusing on areas including Port Harcourt in the oil-rich Niger Delta, the nation’s capital of Abuja and the southeastern state of Enugu, according to Danny Bryer, Protea’s sales and revenue director.

U.S.-based Marriott agreed to buy Protea Hospitality Holdings for $186 million in January. The largest publicly traded hotel chain after Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Marriott will almost double its rooms in Africa to about 23,000 with the purchase of Protea, helping it expand in a continent where a growing middle class and rising travel are fueling the fastest pace of hotel development in the world, according to Bloomberg.

The number of hotels in Nigeria increased 88 percent to 6,200 in the two years through December, according to the country’s tourism development agency.

Marriott International Inc. owns Ritz-Carlton and Renaissance, and is strengthening its position in West Africa as economic growth in Nigeria and Ghana boost travel and tourism, Bloomberg reports.

“With the surging Nigerian economy resulting in companies around the world seeking to do business, demand for quality hotel rooms is expected to increase substantially over the next few years,” Bryer told Bloomberg.

This is attracting hotel investors and operators to Africa seeking new markets as growth slows in mature European and U.S. markets. Bouyed by increasing trade with countires such as China and rising demand for lodging, Africa fits the bill, the report said.

“Improvements in the nation’s economic outlook are motivations to investors,” said Sally Mbanefo, director general of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corp., in an email to Bloomberg.

Protea has 10 hotels operating in Nigeria and around 115 in seven African countries, with two more scheduled to open in Ghana and Rwanda, Bryer said.

Protea will open a 130-room hotel  later in 2014 in Takoradi in the Ghana’s western region as its oilfields stimulate demand for business travel, Bryer said.

“For the moment, we’re focused on Nigeria and Ghana, but further expansion into other West African countries cannot be ruled out,” Bryer said.

Ghana’s economy outpaced the sub-Saharan African average for the past 10 years, and is forecast to expand 4.8 percent, Bloomberg reports.