Muslim friendly hotel launches
February 9, 2010
The first in South Africa of a chain of Muslim-friendly hotels was launched officially in central Cape Town on Saturday. But the ultra-luxurious five-star Coral International Hotel, developed at a cost of $40 million (R309m), with 137 rooms, has been accepting visitors booked through the international marketing organisation of its management company, Dubai-based NMH Holdings, since November.
According to its developer and owner, South African businessman Hamza Farooqui, the only difference in the way the hotel was run, making it attractive for Muslim guests, was that it did not serve alcohol and had a prayer room.
Farooqui is also chief executive of Cii holdings, a conglomerate in Johannesburg with interests ranging from Islamic broadcasting to retail and shariah-approved finance.
"We do not position ourselves as a Muslims-only hotel and the majority of our guests are not Muslim. Many of them during the Christmas holiday period were from Germany, in particular, with some from the UK," he said.
Farooqui said Cii holdings was a 100 percent black-owned company and its new hotel division was an investment in "a fantastic asset class" because the demand for accommodation in South Africa would be greater than the present supply.
The hotel would operate as part of the Coral International chain, based in the Middle East, and he expected the chain to expand throughout Africa, where new opportunities were opening up.
The venture was intended to grow to at least 20 hotels in South Africa and other parts of the region.
There were already encouraging bookings for the Cape Town hotel, positioned on the edge of the historic Bo-Kaap Malay quarter, with about equal numbers of leisure and corporate customers. Bookings for the World Cup period so far look healthy.
The hotel was not contracted with Match, the official suppliers of accommodation for the World Cup, which has recently released some of the rooms it had reserved, but it was in contact with other international tour operators.
Farooqui stressed the need to reassure foreign visitors during the next two months that South Africa was not a dangerous country to visit.
Publicity in media overseas had created "an unfortunate perception of South Africa. Some of our foreign visitors told me that they were pleasantly surprised by the reality of Cape Town. One said he had not expected to enjoy being here," he said.
He had spoken to security experts and believed that adequate measures were in place. Farooqui considered prices in South Africa were "very much in line with those in other places when an event of this kind is taking place.
"The problem is that actually getting to South Africa from other parts of the world is pricey because it is a long-haul destination. But I don't see that as an insurmountable hurdle," he said.
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