[2007-06-18]  Union Gold earmarks K45bn. for 2 hotels
UNION Gold management has budgeted about K45 billion for the construction of Arcades and Livingstone Protea hotels.

Construction works for Arcades Protea with 100 rooms would gobble K25 billion and commence operations first quarter of 2008 while Protea Livingstone with 80 rooms will cost K20 billion and open to the public this year.

Union Gold chairman, Mark O’Donnell speaking in an interview said Protea hotels in Zambia was undergoing expansion with currently two hotels under construction in Lusaka and Livingstone.

Mr O’Donnell said as local investors, they were pleased with Government policy on tourism that has resulted in increased tourist arrivals in the country and accommodation demands.

“ Protea hotels specialises in affordable luxuries. We are coming in the market with good accommodation rates and we are bringing into Zambia an international link attached with Protea hotels across the world,’’ he said.

Mr O’Donnell said Zambia’s tourism is bigger than the amount of tourists arrivals being experienced annually.

He stated that the tourism in Zambia was bigger than mining and manufacturing as it was the world’s largest industry.

He added that Zambia has great tourism attraction that needs to be aggressively marketed to the outside world.

He noted that Lusaka was Zambia’s great commercial centre, with more efforts in beautifying the city, a lot of people would come to Lusaka for business travels, exhibition and conferences.

Mr O’Donnell said to boost the tourism sector further, there was need frequent flights into the country and focus on turning Lusaka into a regional hub.

He stated that Zambia does not need a national airline but making the air transport sector more accessible for airlines to land and takeoff in the country.

He added that Harare used to be a hub for the region but with the economical situation in Zimbabwe things have changed.

“ The more take off and landing that Lusaka can achieve, the better opportunities they are for growth and job creation in the private sector. The more people come to Zambia, they will be demand for goods and services,’’ he said.

He further called for more marketing of the country and not just Livingstone city alone.

“ There is need to be more pro-active in promoting the country. Livingstone is seeing more investments and tourist arrivals because of the promotions activities taking place,’’ he said.



© 2005
Source: © 2005 Zambia Daily Mail