Accor Middle East has signed a management contract with business tycoon Sheikh Salem Saleh Babgi to develop a Novotel hotel in the city of Jizan, Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Salem Babgi said: “We are happy to partner with Accor, the world’s leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe. As a trusted and globally recognised partner, we are confident that together we can make Novotel the number one choice in a market place that is currently under-supplied.”

Novotel Jizan will be nestled at the heart of Jizan, in the South West of Saudi Arabia, one of the fastest growing provincial cities of the country. With its coastal situation along the Red Sea, the city is an important gateway between the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Its recently upgraded regional airport services around one million passengers per year, ensuring strong business and tourism fundamentals, moreover supported by key infrastructure projects underway such as Jizan Economic City and Jizan University.

The hotel, which is currently under design, is due to open by 2015. It will offer 200 well-appointed rooms and suites, several F&B outlets, banqueting facilities and meeting rooms, leisure and recreational facilities including a swimming pool and a fitness & wellness centre. It will be strategically located on the city Corniche, providing great sea views from the hotel rooms and public facilities. Located at short distance from the airport, it will be the ideal destination for any traveller coming to Jizan.

Christophe Landais, Managing Director Accor Middle East, said: “We are also truly honoured to join forces with a high-profile and reputable partner like Sheikh Salem Babgi in this exciting venture, which will certainly contribute in the promotion of Jizan as key regional destination. Our partner’s long-term vision for tourism matches with our mandate of providing internationally-branded accommodation, through our Novotel brand, in Saudi Arabia.”

The new hotel grows Accor’s rapidly expanding Novotel network in KSA, as it will join the existing Novotel Riyadh Al Anoud and Novotel Dammam Business Park that have already positioned the Novotel brand as a reference in the Saudi hotel market.

Currently, Accor operates ten Novotel hotels in the Middle East representing 2,210 rooms (four in Egypt, three in the UAE, two in KSA and one in Bahrain). Eight additional properties are committed for development in the region, creating a network of 18 Novotel hotels and 4,200 rooms by 2015.

Accor’s current regional portfolio of 57 hotels includes ten operational hotels in the Kingdom. Out of the 23 new hotels planned to open by 2015, five will open in KSA: ibis Riyadh Olaya Street (2012), ibis Yanbu (2013), ibis Jeddah Malik Road (2014), Adagio Jeddah Malik Road (2014) and Novotel Jizan (2015).