South African-based hotel management company, BON Hotels, has extended its Ethiopian presence by adding BON Hotel German Square in Addis Ababa to its East African collection, making it its third property in the capital.
Construction of the hotel commenced three years ago. BON Hotels will work closely with the development team and architects, providing technical assistance from an interior architectural perspective with specific guidance in hotel design and planning.
The 115-room hotel is expected to be completed by early 2020, and will include two restaurants, three conference rooms with a capacity to host 400 delegates, a swimming pool, bars and sufficient parking.
As capital city of a country that has a population of 90 million, Addis Ababa, recognised as one of the fastest-growing African economies, enjoys a thriving domestic corporate travel market. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Guy Stehlik, CEO of BON Hotels, said: “Addis acts as the gateway to the rest of Ethiopia from a tourism perspective and the airport sees close to 20 million arrivals annually, making it a significant transit hub. Adding to this, Addis is still dramatically unsupported by international markets and we predict a significant increase from this sector.”
The hotel will create direct employment for over 200 local staff and, according to Stehlik, will answer the need for good-quality, reasonably priced hotel accommodation in Addis Ababa.
“Addis Ababa is certainly gaining a good reputation from the conference and events tourism sector and hotel brands are paying attention. We are very excited to see our third hotel under way and with our presence on the ground in Ethiopia, we continue to honour our pledge of developing Africa by Africans,” notes Stehlik.
BON Hotels is actively seeking opportunities for new builds and rebrands throughout East Africa particularly Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda.
Source: Tourismupdate.co.za
