During his rather quiet three hour state visit to Uganda ,Prince Alwaleed held talks with the President of Uganda His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni in which he agreed to construct three chain five star hotels, venture into eco-tourism, build tourist sites, national parks and forests. Among the prince’s other growing investment interests in the East Africa region are the Norfolk Hotels in Kenya and the five star Royal Palm Hotel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. His eyes are also set on snapping up additional property in Zanzibar, the beaches and game parks in the mainland.

The prince, who is a nephew to the Saudi King further has shares in Motorola, AOL Time/Warner, Amazon.com, the Four Seasons hotel chains, eBay.com, Ford Motor Company, Hewlett and Packard, Pepsi, News Corporation, Kodak, Gillette among other leading global corporations.
Kampala is experiencing a hotel construction boom where over five multi billion shilling projects are due for launch before the November 2007 Commonwealth Summit in Kampala. He is known to be one of the five richest men in the world.

The new hotel will be located a stones throw away from the multi billion shilling Golf Course Hotel along Yusuf Lule Road and Aga Khan’s Serena Hotel (formerly Nile Hotel) on Hannington Road. It will become Uganda’s second five star hotel after Serena. Yet to be named, his hotel will have several storeys and all the extras that come with all his hotels across the world and also employ hundreds of locals. Other hotels in the neighbourhood include Africana, Speke and Sheraton.

Prince Alwaleed’s fortune, anchored by a $10 billion stake in Citigroup, was lifted in part by a 116% rise in the Saudi stock market in 2004, the same year he unloaded his half of New York’s Plaza Hotel and then ploughed the profits into acquiring stakes in London’s Savoy Hotel and Monaco’s Monte Carlo Grand at several million dollars.

Plans are under way to relocate Shimoni Demonstration School and Primary Teachers College that have occupied the land for the last many decades to Lugogo, a city suburb about three kilometres away, by April 2006.

By Tanah Hadijah
Uganda Hotel News

February has been baptized the month to communicate, repair and reawaken love, but one day seems to take core stage. It’s February 14 where lovers take an attempt at anything to impress their loved ones. This is where the aspect of special packages comes in. Taking a loved one out has become an inevitability. The Sheraton Hotel vies as one if those places determined to get lovers enjoy themselves this evening.

According to the Sheraton Hotel’s Director of Sales & Marketing, Ms Janet Mzigo, lovebirds will be delicacies to a special evening. Lovers will be treated to a welcome cocktail, an exquisitely prepared “5″ course menu, flickering candlelight, bottle of wine. There will also be a raffle in the Victoria Room where a lucky couple will win a flat screen LCD TV, courtesy of LG who are part of the of the sponsors. Another lucky couple will win free massage at the hotel’s Kidepo Club. At Sheraton lovers will have access to entertainment to a dance amidst the glow of candles, strolling performances as well as several door prize and gifts to be won.

Sheraton has two venues this year- The Hippo Grill and Lover’s Nest.The Hippo Grill will host the hippo breeze party and here revellers will part with Shs40,000 inclusive of a glass of wine and dinner. There will be also roses and chocolates for ladies. The affluent will take haven in the newly refurbished Victoria Room at a fee of Ushs120,000 that will entitle them to a welcome drink, nicely decorated table that will be candle light with trimmings of red rose petals, a meal starter as well as any choice of buffet for the couples.

Goldies’ man Deejay Bangi is slated to host the couples to some of the best romantic oldies this evening. Otherwise for lovers of Salsa, former WBS presenter Doreen Kayongo will thrill revellers at the Lover’s Nest with her hot and spicy Salsa dance performances. Local artiste Halima Namakula will also perform alongside her daughter from the US. “What we want this time round is to kill off those old renditions of piano, wine and food. Sheraton’s Foods & Beverages manager Gbedemah, Kwashie pointed out that this time there will be a variety of entertainment given the fact that different lovers have different choices.

BY Tanah Hadijah
Uganda Hotel News

Releasing their report at Hotel Africana in Kampala yesterday, the leader of the African Union team, Victor Tonchi, said they were impressed with the participation rates in certain polling stations that averaged more than 60% of registered voters

The team said that it visited and observed the voting process in over 100 polling stations in five districts outside Kampala, where they paid attention to particular aspects of the electoral process, like delivery and handling of electoral materials, counting of votes, voter participation and security. Tonchi said the February 23rd polls were conducted in a calm and peaceful manner, despite some irregularities.

The AU team wishes to congratulate the EC for the well organised and executed elections; political parties for mature contestation and Ugandans for responsible participation.

By Tanah Hadijah
Uganda Hotel News

Hotel rates have been said to be highest in Africa. According to Mr. Julius Bagonza, the Chairman of Uganda Hotel and Catering Association (UHCA), “The high costs involved in running hotels force hoteliers to hike their rates,” he told Business & Finance in an interview recently.

Utilities like electricity are expensive and yet they are unstable. Hotels have to maintain full-time generators due to the load shedding. He also said that because Uganda is a land locked country, hotels spend a lot on clearing their utensils at Mombasa airport and transporting them by road from Mombasa to Uganda.

Bagonza, from Sheraton Kampala Hotel, says the hotel for example spends Shs48 million on electricity and Shs19 million on water per month.
The hotels must also pay licenses, VAT, TV licence fees for each TV set, corporate tax, PAYE among other taxes. The high hotel costs then have to be passed onto the customers because Hotels have to make profits.

“Our pricing are so high and it is not good for our sector and investors. Uganda needs more hotels to be able to host a good number of visitors, but if the taxes continue to increase, people will shun this business and the country will lose out on tourism due to inadequate accommodation,” he said.

Bagonza said Uganda has become a very expensive destination for tourists and is likely to lose its potential tourists to Kenya and Tanzania, which are a bit cheaper. He argues that if government is serious about developing tourism in Uganda, hoteliers and other investors should be given good incentives.

By Kisibo Jackie
Uganda hotel News