Jumeirah expands into North Africa via Morocco

Dubai: Local hospitality group Jumeirah Group is entering North Africa for the first time, having signed an agreement with SGTM Immobilier to manage a luxury golf and polo resort in Morocco.

The resort is seven kilometres south of Marrakech and is scheduled to open in three stages from January 2013.

The entire resort will cover 177 hectares, with the Atlas mountains as the backdrop.

The Jumeirah Golf and Polo Resort will have three five-star hotels. These include a deluxe golf hotel, complete with 18-hole golf course, clubhouse and academy. There will be 230 rooms and suites, as well as 50 luxury villas.

The boutique polo hotel will comprise two polo fields and one practice course. The hotel itself will have 100 rooms.

The third hotel will have 300 rooms and suites, a spa, souq and residential villas.

Other facilities include restaurants, bars, lounges and a 2,500 square metre Talise spa.

"Marrakech is truly the heartbeat of Morocco and possesses a rich and varied cultural inheritance. Jumeirah Group is proud to have our roots in the Arabian culture and we look forward to offering our guests a unique and authentic, world-class, luxury experience within Morocco," Gerald Lawless, executive chairman of Jumeirah Group, said in a statement.

Officials at Jumeirah were not available for further comment when contacted by Gulf News.

Jumeirah has signed agreements for hotels in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan. There are also plans to manage more hotels in China.

Lawless said earlier this year that he hoped to have 60 hotels and 150 branded restaurants under management or development by 2012.

The group currently has a number of hotels under construction, from Argentina to Shanghai, but this is their first management project in Morocco.

"Marrakech is the jewel of our kingdom and as such, we felt duty-bound to associate a world-leading operator to our project," Ahmad Kabbaj, chief executive of SGTM Immobilier, a subsidiary of Société générale des travaux du Maroc (SGTM), said.

"We are therefore honoured to be working in partnership with Jumeirah on this one-of-a-kind resort. With their world class expertise and knowledge of Middle Eastern culture, Jumeirah will ensure that our guests get the best out of the Red City's magic."