Marriott s deal with Protea, which has established the group as Africa s biggest by number of hotels, has reduced the list of potential targets.

　　Africa is becoming the new battleground for global domination among hotel groups.

　　Just as the Middle East was for several years the region where the likes of Marriott, Hilton, Starwood and InterContinental Hotels Group fought for market share, so sub-Saharan Africa is now the setting for the latest rollout of their global brands.

　　Marriott set the pace late last year in sub-Saharan Africa with the $200m-plus takeover of Protea, a 116-hotel group spanning seven African nations.

　　"Honestly, I think Africa is the next big thing," says Michael Wale, head of Europe, Africa and Middle East at Starwood. But he sounds a note of caution amid the hype. "I'm absolutely clear it won't be easy and won't be done in the short term."

　　For decades, Africa has attracted foreign tourists to game reserves, fuelling the construction of safari resorts. In 2012, international arrivals surpassed the 50m mark for the first time, generating $33bn in revenues, according to the UN World Tourism Organisation, which forecasts that arrivals will top 85m by 2020.

　　But tourists are not the travellers exciting the big international hotel groups. Alex Kyriakidis, who heads the Middle East and Africa business at Marriott, explains that now "the big prize is domestic and regional business" travellers.

　　The emergence of business travellers hopping between Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Luanda and other African commercial capitals is a clear reflection of the continent's recent period of strong economic growth and relative political stability - dubbed by many observers as "Africa Rising".

　　The International Monetary Fund forecasts that sub-Saharan Africa will grow by 6 per cent in 2014 - second only to the 6.5 per cent growth rate in the developing Asia region, which includes China and India, and well above the global rate of 3.6 per cent.

　　Rick Menell, a banker at Credit Suisse in Johannesburg, says the new African commuters have few places to stay. "The hospitality market has great potential because until now is under served," he says.

　　Regional business travellers are also paying top dollar for their hotels. According to Mercer, the consultancy, Luanda, the capital of Angola, and N'Djamena, the capital of Chad, are among the world's five most expensive cities for business travellers and expats in terms of food, transport and accommodation costs. In Luanda it is difficult to find a business class hotel room for less than $500 a night.

　　Hotel industry executives are flying around the continent to explore how to meet this growing demand. The merger and acquisitions route looks difficult. Marriott's deal with Protea, which has established the group as Africa's biggest by number of hotels, has reduced the list of potential targets.