Five years ago, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the Saudi billionaire, embarked on his “African vision” – an exploration to discover the travel potential of the continent.

“We went and met every president of these 42 African nations,” says Sarmad Zok, chief executive of the prince’s hotel and real estate investment company, Kingdom Hotel Investments (KHI). “We conducted interview roadshows with Prince Alwaleed. He would get on his plane, visit 10 to 15 African nations, meet their presidents for 45 minutes to an hour and we would come up with a view.