Accor opens hotels in Turkey and sell in Europe

The French hotel giant Accor is continuing its expansion in Turkey. Hotels in Turkey this year promise to be one of the hits of the season. Analysts predict the continuing growth in demand for inexpensive holiday in the world. And Turkey is one of the niche leaders. The weakening of the Turkish lira also makes the prices in Turkish hotels attract for the tourists from Western Europe. Of course, Accor seek to derive benefits from such situation.

Accor plans to present two hotels in the city of Gaziantep in southern Turkey. There are business-class Novotel hotel and budget Ibis. The opening is scheduled for Saturday, March 6, 2010. The importance of such a move for the Turkish hotel business emphasizes the official representative of the Turkish authorities at the opening ceremony. As expected, in the presentation of new hotels will take part the Finance Minister of Turkey Mehmet Shimshek.

The opening of new hotels will increase the representation of Accor in the tourist market of Turkey up to 6 hotels.

Two new hotels in Gaziantep cost Accor in total 21 million euros. Each hotel differs by the average capacity: 92 rooms in the Novotel Gaziantep hotel and 177 rooms in the Ibis Gaziantep.

Gaziantep is a large industrial city in southern Turkey near the border with Syria. Despite the fact that the city is located off the coast of the Turkish Riviera it is attractive as a business center. The flow of tourists from Syria and Jordan has increased over recent years for several times. Accor was among the first Western companies, which responded quickly to such a rapid growth. According to the local tourist authorities at least 4 large hotel operators are waiting for the construction of hotels in Gaziantep.

Simultaneously with the opening in 2010 of new hotels in the Asian region (Turkey, UAE and other countries), Accor sells part of its assets in Europe. Thus, in an official press release on February 19, 2010 was reported the sale of 5 hotels in 4 countries in Europe. The cost of hotels for sale is 154 million euros. Among them there are such hotels as Pullman Paris La Défense, two hotels in Rome Novotel Roma la Rustica and Mercure Corso Trieste, Novotel Muenchen City and a hotel in Bratislava Mercure Zabatova.