JEDDAH, 11 May 2005 — Construction of one of the tallest hotel towers of Makkah is under way and is scheduled to become operational next year.

The ZamZam Sofitel Grand Suites is of the Accor Group, which worked with Munshaat Group, a major Kuwaiti investment company, to secure the contract to manage the $600 million property. Construction of the hotel, part of the prestigious five-tower Al-Bayt Towers complex, has already reached its 16th floor. The 34-storied project is well on its way to completion and will meet its September 2006 schedule, according to Munshaat Chairman Fuad Al-Homoud.

Accor Group has also announced that it has completed a study to design and set up three hotel schools Kingdomwide — Riyadh, Jeddah and Alkhobar. By 2015, the three schools will have trained more than 10,000 young Saudis while also providing a guarantee of employment in the Kingdom’s tourist sector. The hotel school project is being developed in cooperation with the Saudi Supreme Commission for Tourism, headed by Prince Sultan ibn Salman as secretary general and Prince Abdulaziz ibn Fahd ibn Abdullah Al-Saud as deputy secretary general, and Franco-Saudi Affairs Council President Abdulaziz Al-Sheikh.

The ZamZam is one of Accor’s two hotels under construction in the holy city, the other being Mercure Makkah. The group already has three hotels in the holy city — Sofitel Makkah, Mercure Hibatullah and Grand Mercure Ummalqura, senior Accor executives told a road show hosted at Alhamra Sofitel Hotel here on Sunday night.

The road show, which earlier visited some Gulf countries, aims to highlight the potential of the Kingdom to the group’s 3,986 hotels with 465,623 rooms in 92 countries.

Saudi Arabia has clearly been identified as one of the key players for destinations such as Europe, Asia, Pacific Africa and the Mediterranean. “Our goal is to increase our market share and be the market leader,” Accor’s Vice President for Sales & Marketing for Middle East and Africa Alexis De La Palme said. Participating in the road show were the group’s hotels from Bahrain, Dubai, France, Yemen, Morocco and Germany.

Construction of three more Accor hotels in the Kingdom is also in progress. These include the 230-room luxury Sofitel Alkhobar and the 210-room Novotel Al-Anoud in Riyadh. Both are planned to open in early 2007. In addition, the 110-room Mercure Makkah, which is expected to join the Accor group later in 2005, is planning an extension of 220-additional rooms in 2007, according to Dr. Abderahman Belgat, director general at Accor Saudi Arabia and general manager at the Saudi French Company for Hotel Management.

With the opening of the Mercure Grand Golden Hotel in Jeddah earlier in January, the Accor portfolio in the Kingdom comprises 10 hotels with 3,500 rooms employing more than 2,500 people in hotels that include four Sofitel, one upper mid-scale Novotel, four high value Mercure and one Ibis in major cities.