Protea set to open third property in Uganda, located in Mbale / Eastern Uganda

PROTEA SET TO OPEN NEW HOTEL IN MBALE / EASTERN UGANDA
Information was received that Protea Hotels will after Kampala and the recent addition of the Entebbe Airport Protea Hotel open their third property in Uganda at the eastern Ugandan town of Mbale.
Located on the foot of Mt. Elgon, a volcanic mountain of just under 4.500 metres high and shared with Kenya, the new Protea will open its doors on July 01st to the public. The 75 room and suite hotel will immediately be the best hotel in the East of the country and the branded name of Africas largest hotel group will undoubtedly lure more visitors to the scenic East of the country, which has not, until now, lived up to its tourism potential due to the lack of classy and well managed facilities. Stuart Cook, Managing Director of Protea Hotels East Africa, was reported to have said: Mbale is in a beautiful location close to the Kenyan border and its a superb base for seeing some of the most spectacular mountainous scenery that Africa has to offer. It is located at Mount Elgon which rises to just short of 4 500 metres. The impressive Sipi Falls are on the northern side of the mountain, and there are rock paintings in nearby Kakoro and Kumi. Mbale is also the centre of Ugandan coffee cultivation, so its an important regional business hub and Protea Hotels East Africa is looking forward to gaining a foothold in the area.
Protea, according to information available, is also expanding their portfolio in Zambia and West Africa and is after Starwoods Sheraton and Serena only the third branded hotel group with a pedigree worth mentioning which has come to Uganda. The upcoming InterContinental Hotel in Kampala at the former Kingdom Hotels site in Shimoni will, when complete, bring the fourth recognized hospitality brand to the Pearl of Africa, a much needed injection of professional expertise in the largely locally dominated business hotel sector in Kampala, Entebbe and other key towns across the country, and subsequently often lacking the strategy and vision to aim at constant service levels an international clientele comes to expect. Watch this space.