Wasiu Babalola, managing director, West Africa, Swiss International Hotels & Resorts, has been announced as one of the speakers at this year’s Annual Africa Hotel Expansion Summit holding between February 12 and 13, 2015 in Dakar, Senegal. At the summit, Babalola’s presentation will focus on the future traveler and his impact on branding decisions.
The summit is a gathering of developers, investors, regulators, construction companies, architects, solution providers, financial institutes and associations in a focused two-day programme designed to enhance businesses. Panel discussions and presentations will elaborate on future investment strategies and funding, operations efficiency and updated technologies required for guaranteeing customer satisfaction and success.
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Africa is a continent with major untapped potential. Now, favourable demographics and economic growth are attracting new foreign investments and this presents many opportunities for hotel developers and operators.
The summit will be chaired by Vernon Page, CEO, Hotel Partners Africa while speakers include the Gambia’s Minister of State for Tourism & Culture; with top representatives from Best Western International, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, The Rezidor Hotel Group, Wyndham Hotels, Lionstone Group, Hyatt Hotels, International Finance Corporation, Hilton Worldwide among others. Kehinde Daniel, chairperson, Institute of Hospitality UK, Nigeria International Branch, will moderate one of the sessions.
Consequently, numerous hotel chains have announced ambitious expansion plans for the coming years and every month new developments and projects are published. The past five years, the Sub-Saharan region saw a growth of over 84 percent in the number of hotel deals signed and at the beginning of 2014, over 40, 000 rooms were in the development pipeline. West Africa is booming with Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal in the Top 10 of growth markets for the hospitality sector.
