It will soon be the Group's new flagship in Morocco, the symbol of its strong ambitions in the country: the Radisson Casablanca Gauthier la Citadelle will soon be opening its doors in the Gauthier district, next to the Arab League Park and the Villa des Arts, and close to the Corniche and the Medina. In a central location, the hotel will offer 133 rooms and suites for visiting business travellers, enhanced by a 450 m² meeting space divided into five rooms that can accommodate from 30 to 130 people in theatre format, plus a ballroom. Guests will also be able to relax over a drink and tapas at the rooftop Bliss bar, or around the outdoor swimming pool, with the hotel also offering a grill restaurant.
Already established in the Moroccan business capital with the Radisson Blu Casablanca City Center, the group is now doubling its presence there. More broadly, this opening is part of the development of the group in the country where, from a small dozen establishments today - in Casablanca, Marrakech, but also Agadir, Al Hoceïma and Saïdia - Radisson plans to have 25 hotels by 2030. A key year for the country with the hosting of the football World Cup, along with Spain and Portugal.
" The main objective is to strengthen our presence in Casablanca and Marrakechsays Erwan Garnier, Senior Director of Development for Africa at the Radisson Hotel Group. We are also planning to set up operations in the strategic cities of Rabat, Tangiers, Agadir and Fez." . In this context, Radisson's Moroccan offering will be strengthened through business hotels, resorts, residential accommodation and high-standard mixed projects.
Nigeria, Egypt, other Radisson priorities
With these developments expected in Morocco, Radisson will also increase its presence on the African continent. A continent where Radisson is one of the world's most dynamic groups, with the addition of around twenty hotels over the last three years and eight new projects signed last year. And even a total of 22 hotels if we extend the spectrum to the countries of the Middle East. So we can look forward with confidence to 150 hotels in Africa in the next five years, compared with around one hundred at present.
In addition to the Radisson Casablanca Gauthier La Citadelle, four other openings are expected this year, including the Radisson Blu Beach Resort & Spa Banjul, which will mark the start of a new era in the tourism industry. the group's entry into GambiaThe new hotel will be one of the country's leading international hotels. All of this in a top-of-the-range hotel that is part resort - with its direct access to the ocean, its five restaurants and its 462 rooms - and part conference centre, with a MICE area of over 3,000 m². Overlooking the beach, it will feature a conference room and ballroom, 12 meeting rooms and sub-committee rooms. Another opening planned for 2024, the Radisson Middelburg, in South Africa's Mpumalanga province, will strengthen the Group's presence in one of its key markets.
Among its other strongholds in Africa, Radisson will also be increasing its offering in Egypt this year with a residential offering in the capital, the Radisson Residences Cairo Heliopolis, while in parallel, the luxurious Radisson Collection is announced next year with a resort in Marsa Alam. Another stronghold, NigeriaThe Radisson Benin City, five minutes from the city's airport and located in the government zone, will be inaugurated at the end of the year. This 170-room business hotel will feature three meeting rooms and a ballroom.
From six hotels at the time of this opening, Radisson's offer in Nigeria is set to increase to a dozen, with other establishments expected in the coming years. Starting with a luxury MICE hotel in the capital, the Radisson Collection Hotel & Conference Center Abuja. Located next to the presidential palace, in the Maitama district, this large 249-room business hotel will be combined with a 3,000 m² convention centre including a conference hall and five meeting rooms. At the same time, another hotel will be opening in Abuja, the Radisson Blu Abuja CBD, while the country's major metropolis, Lagos, will see the arrival of the Radisson RED lifestyle brand.
" We are targeting ambitious expansion in eight dynamic cities in West and Central AfricaAbuja, Lagos, Accra, Abidjan, Dakar, Yaoundé, Douala and Kinshasa." explained Erwan Garnier, Ramsay Rankoussi, the Group's VP Development for Africa and Turkey. in addition to these key markets, we are actively targeting East Africa this year, with Kenya and Tanzania identified as priorities" .
Africa is an ideal playground for hotel development, the Middle East is no less so for the group, which has added 1,000 rooms in the region by 2023, including two hotels in Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman, a Radisson Blu in Amman, Jordan, and its first hotel in Erbil, Iraq. " We continue to explore new markets, such as Erbil and Amman, while consolidating our position in established cities such as Jeddah, Riyadh, Kuwait, Mecca and Muscat." said Elie Milky, the Group's VP Development for the Middle East. As part of this development, the Group will also soon be discovering a new country, Pakistan, where four hotels and serviced flats are expected in Islamabad, probably in 2025.
