Marriott International to Double Middle East Hotel Footprint in Five Years

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Marriott International today announced the addition of six new properties to its Middle East/Africa pipeline of 37 previously-announced hotels. They represent three of Marriott's lodging brands serving the luxury, upper-moderately priced and extended-stay travel segments.

Included is the first Residence Inn by Marriott-branded property for extended-stay travelers in the Middle East, which opens in suburban Manama, Bahrain later this year. When all 43 hotels now under development or construction open by 2016, Marriott International will offer consumers 74 hotels and resorts and more than 17,600 rooms across seven lodging brands in the Middle East & Africa.

"Despite recent economic and political uncertainties in the Middle East and the northern tier of Africa, our development opportunities in the region remain strong," said Ed Fuller, president & managing director for international lodging. "These new hotels are expected to open over the next five years and will be perfectly positioned to help accommodate the nearly 90 million travelers that the World Travel & Tourism Council estimates will visit the region annually by 2016. Today, the Middle East welcomes approximately 68 million visitors each year."

Mr. Fuller said that Marriott continues to aggressively explore attractive expansion opportunities in sub-Saharan Africa and expects to announce projects later this year in countries like South Africa, Mauritius, Tanzania, Angola, Nigeria and Benin. "The region has enormous tourism potential and we plan to play an important role in its development," he said, adding that Marriott's first two projects in sub-Saharan Africa are expected to open in Accra and Kigali next year.

Announced today are the following hotels:

• 335-room Courtyard by Marriott Cairo Mirage City. The hotel is owned by Golf Hotels Corporation and is expected to open in 2012 as the first upper-moderately priced Courtyard by Marriott property in Egypt.

• 495-room The Ritz-Carlton Riyadh. Owned by The Ministry of Finance of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, this luxury hotel is scheduled to open in 2011 as the first Ritz-Carlton hotel in Saudi Arabia.

• 78-unit Residence Inn by Marriott Juffair in suburban Manama, Bahrain. Owned by International Trading and Investment Co., W.L.L., the property opens later this year as the first Residence Inn for extended-stay travelers in the Middle East.

• 120-room The Ritz-Carlton Rabat Hotel. Owned by Sienna Investment Group, this luxury hotel is expected to open in 2013.

• 247-room Courtyard by Marriott Algiers.  Owned by Trust Real Estate SPA, this upper-moderately-priced property is scheduled to open in 2014 and will be the first Courtyard property in Algeria.

• 147-unit Residence Inn by Marriott Algiers. Owned by Trust Real Estate SPA, this property is expected to open in 2014 as the third Residence Inn in the region.

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