The Rotana Group is to contribute to the development of the new town of Diamniadio, in Senegal, with a long-stay hotel due to open in 2026. While Diamniadio already has a Radisson Blu hotel, the Middle Eastern hotelier will be adding to the accommodation on offer in this smart city designed to relieve the congestion in Dakar. Since 2015, this the country's new showcase is gradually expanding to around thirty kilometres from the Senegalese capital and just twenty kilometres from Blaise Diagne International Airport, which opened at the end of 2017.
The city, which could be home to 350,000 people by 2030-2040, has undergone major developments, including the opening of the Abdou Diouf Conference Centre The recent inauguration of the vast Amadou-Mahtar-M'Bow university campus and the ongoing relocation from Dakar of the new UN headquarters for West Africa, in a new building designed by architects Wilmotte & Associés. With a 50,000-seat Olympic stadium and a 15,000-seat arena, the city also boasts a number of promising leisure facilities. As for transport, the city is awaiting the extension to the airport of the TER line that already links it to Dakar.
It is in this fast-developing metropolis that Rotana is preparing to open its new Arjaan Hotel Apartments by Rotana brand. a 150-key hotel, with furnished studios and one or two-bedroom flatsIt also features a café, swimming pool, fitness centre and four meeting rooms. More than a hotel residence, this project is part of a key urban development for the town, the mixed-use Les Zeniths complex, with sustainable ambitions.
Made up of three towers, one of which contains residential flats, the other offices, and the last the Arjaan hotel, the complex is complemented by commercial space. " Built around a shopping mall, it meets the diverse needs of visitors to the city for long or short-term stays" said Ali Bilal, Managing Director of HM Development, the developer of Les Zeniths.
" The launch of our first establishment in Senegal, a fast-growing market and a leader in tourism development on the African continent, marks A milestone for Rotana" commented Makram El Zyr, vice-president of development for the hotel group. Extensively developed in the Near and Middle East, Rotana was already active in Africa with resorts in Marrakech and Sharm El Sheikh, as well as an urban hotel in Dar es Salaam and an Arjaan residence in Kinshasa. A long-stay offer is also present in Sarajevo, the group's only foray into Europe to date, but which will soon no longer be the only one.
Rotana, which now has almost 80 hotels, is aiming to the 100-establishment mark in the near future, and is preparing to discover new destinations by the end of 2024, including London, with two hotels under its Centro budget lifestyle brand, and Algeria, with a top-of-the-range Rotana resort in Oran.
