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policies over the last eight years which has seen the country’s currency holding its own against the major foreign currencies including the dollar and the pound and improved Gross International Reserves which stood at $2.19 billion despite the external factors.
The political stability, which makes Ghana a free country to live in, is also a contributory factor.
In addition, inflation and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) have seen massive improvements with GDP projected to reach 7 percent by the end of this year.
Inflation which in 1999 was above 35 percent now stands at 16.88 percent according to May 2008 figures.
These top international hotels are placing their structures in a strategic location, the Airport City, two minutes’ drive from the Kotoka International Airport.
Already, Holiday Inn has commenced full-scale operations opening their beautiful edifice on July 1, 2008 in the Airport City area.
This was after Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), owners of the Holiday Inn Franchise, approved the facility and granted the wholly Ghanaian owned-Royal Airports Hotel permission to operate under the brand name- the first in West Africa.
The hotel which has two presidential suites, 6 suites, 10 luxury rooms and 52 executive rooms and plasma televisions in all the rooms, has lighted the Airport City area which has a growing number of corporate institutions.
What even makes it exciting is the use of local architecture and design with about 70 percent of the interior décor being Ghanaian.
The name of Hilton’s Ghana franchise will be Hilton Accra Airport City and will become the group’s ninth property in Africa.
The 186-room hotel scheduled to open in early 2010, is owned by Grand Real Estates and Company Limited and will be managed by Hilton Hotels Corporation.
“The new property will become one of the first upscale international brands to operate in the capital Accra. Hilton Accra gives us a tremendous opportunity to establish our brand in an African country that is experiencing strong growth,” Jean-Paul Herzog, President, Hilton Hotels, Middle East & Africa said.
Away from the Airport city is a new hotel being sited at the former Ambassador Hotel constructed by Ghana’s first President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and apparently called the New Ambassador Hotel.
The New Ambassador Hotel which is being constructed by the government of Ghana and Kingdom Hotel Investments which has the Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Al Waleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Alsaud as Chairman, is expected to be completed by the end of 2010.
The hotel requires about $80 million to re-develop its infrastructure and develop a multi-use hotel project with retail, residential, and leisure facilities in the heart of the capital.
CITY & BUSINESS GUIDE also gathers that another top class international hotel brand, Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is negotiating with the Accra Metropolitan Authority to acquire the land located very close to the Arts Center in Accra on a long lease to begin a beach hotel.
By far, these massive appearances of the top international hotel brands will light up the skyline of Accra and the whole country which is becoming an emerging economy in Africa growing at between 9-10 percent over the last few years.
Complementing these hotels are already existing ones such as five-star La Palm Royal Beach, four-star La Beach, Golden Tulip Hotels and Novotel Hotels, not forgetting the emerging ones such as Alisa Hotel.
Beside Accra, equally good first class hotels in other parts of the country including Busua Beach Resort and Coconut Groove Hotel at Elmina in the Central Region and New Golden Tulip Hotel in Kumasi, are serving patrons and tourists with their outstanding services.
By Charles Nixon Yeboah Other Stories
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