Monday, 26 February 2007

JEDDAH: Three straight years of a budget surplus and prospects for a bright economic future have prompted Accor Saudi Arabia to make serious commitments to investing in the Kingdom, according to Dr. Abderahman Belgat, director general, Accor Saudi Arabia & Sudan and general manager, Saudi-French Company for Hotel Management.

"Between 2005 and 2020," Belgat said, "Accor - one of the world's largest hotel and services groups - will invest more than $360 billion in previously planned projects in the region. Forty percent of the investment will be in Saudi Arabia and 25 percent will be in the UAE."

Accor's eagerly-awaited flagship property in Saudi Arabia, the ZamZam Grand Suites partially opened in September 2006, just a few steps from the Grand Mosque in Makkah. The hotel, described as one of the biggest and most luxurious in the Mideast and Africa, intends to provide the highest levels of service and comfort, according to Belgat.

With a price tag of $650 million, the ZamZam will ultimately offer 1,300 rooms and suites that can host a total of 6,000 guests. When fully operational, the hotel will employ more than 1,100 people, most of them Saudis, Belgat explained.

The landmark project in Makkah will be followed by the opening of another Makkah hotel, 235-room Mercure Grand Residence Al-Azizia. Set to open next month, the hotel will be unique in that it is the first international chain hotel to be located in Aziziah, Makkah's business district.

In addition to the hotels in the Kingdom's western region, Accor is also expanding its presence in other parts of the country. Negotiations are underway to acquire properties in Riyadh, Dammam, Taif, Madina, and Jeddah.

Two other projects will expand Accor's profile in the Kingdom in the coming months.

The Sofitel Al-Khobar Bay View, offering 232 luxury rooms, will open its doors by the end of 2007, and the 167-room Novotel Al-Anoud, located in the heart of Riyadh, is scheduled for an October 2007 launch.

The Saudi French Company for Hotel Management, a fully-owned subsidiary of Accor, will manage 20 hotels comprising 5,000 rooms by 2010. Those properties will provide 4,500 jobs, half of which are to be filled by Saudis.

"In line with the Accor sustainable development program, Saudization remains the top priority for Accor," Belgat added. "The company is fully committed to playing a role in helping and developing the job skills of young Saudis, college graduates and others, so as to enable them to learn about and integrate into the Saudi tourism industry." 

Hotel schools
Accor, in cooperation with the Saudi Supreme Commission of Tourism and other authorities in the Kingdom, have founded several hotel schools in the Kingdom.

According to Belgat, the schools are the fruits of three years of discussions and will play a major role in the development of the Saudi economy, in general, and the tourism sector, specifically. By 2012, more than 10,000 young Saudi males and females, in line with Islamic regulations, will be trained by Accor Saudi Arabia. The education will lead to jobs at all levels of the hotel and service industry.

The next three years will see a massive increase in Accor's activities in the Kingdom as the company aims to increase the number of its hotel from 18 to 58 by the end of 2009. The number of Accor properties set to open over the next 36 months in the GCC, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria and Yemen will increase the number of rooms under the company/s control from 3,527 to 16,239, a growth of 360 percent.

By Irfan Iqbal Khan

© The Saudi Gazette 2007