Luxury brand Kempinski Hotels has new properties planned in Namibia, Morocco, Egypt and Ghana, with others in the pipeline. Many of the new developments aim to tap into the MICE market on the continent.
Kempinski Mokuti Lodge in Namibia is an existing lodge soon to be rebranded under the Kempinski name. The property, which aims to appeal to business travellers as an incentives venue, has 90 guest rooms, 8 luxury chalets, 8 family bungalows and 25 luxury tents in addition to conference and meeting rooms and a private airstrip. Under Kempinski, the lodge will be refurbished and the chalets extended.
Kempinski Royal Palace Agadir, with conference and banqueting facilities to accommodate up to 400 people, is set to open in Morocco in March next year, with other hotels planned in Marrakech for mid 2010 and Tangier for June 2011. Kempinski Hotel Marrakech, situated ten minutes from the city centre, will have extensive meeting and conference facilities, as well as a selection of fine dining and casual restaurants, a spa, and a fitness centre with two swimming pools and tennis courts.
Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City in Accra, Ghana, is due to open in 2010. The hotel will be part of a larger development covering some 35 acres, which will include exhibition spaces and offices. Situated near the city centre and next to the Accra International Conference Centre, the new Kempinski will have 267 rooms, four restaurants and 1500 sqm of conference and banqueting space, with meeting rooms and a business centre.
In Egypt, Kempinski Hotel Soma Bay, situated on the Red Sea, 40 minutes from Hurghada International Airport, is due to open early in 2009, and Kempinski Hotel Sharm El Sheikh is planned for 2011.
Kempinski Hotel Djibouti, opened in 2006, is also being developed, with a major extension to the hotel due to be completed this month, adding 76 additional rooms and 54 serviced apartments. New facilities include a casino, restaurants, library and spa.
According to Roland Obermeier, regional vice president sales and marketing for the Middle East and Africa, Djibouti is a major business destination, with plenty of opportunities for meetings and incentives: “At the moment it’s 99 per cent corporates and we get a lot of MICE business. In general in Africa MICE is a big market.” To tap into this, the hotel offers unusual incentives, such as diving with whale sharks, meetings in a swimming pool, breakfast with flamingos and parachuting in the Grand Barra desert.
Kempinski Hotels currently also has properties in Chad, Namibia, and Tanzania.
Visit kempinski.com.
Report by Sara Turner
