Business
Marriott acquires Africa’s largest hotel chain Protea
In 2013, a record 56 million travelers visited Africa, according to UN statistics.
That was up 6 percent from the figure for the previous year and a similar increase is expected for 2014.
Business travel is also picking up on the continent as the sub-Saharan region grows at an average of 5 percent a year.
According to Gillis, the deal placed Marriott at an advantage over global competitors which had decided to build African hotels themselves, rather than acquire them.
Marriott, he said, “looked at what the other global players had said they were going to do in Africa, then what the other global players have done in Africa.”
“Sadly they are two entirely different things. I’ve got many newspaper clippings, (detailing plans for) ’50 hotels in five years,’ ’75 hotels in ten years'”, said Gillis.
“Marriott have said something completely different” in going for a takeover, he said.
