A poolside view at the Voyager Beach Resort, Mombasa. Photo/ COURTESY MOHAMMED HERSI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 4 – Kenya has been ranked 9th in Africa in top 10 African countries with the largest number of upcoming hotel developments in 2015 despite the tourism decline that has seen some hotels close shop.
This is according to Hotel Chain Development Pipeline Survey 2015 by W Hospitality Group.
According to the survey Kenya has eight hotels with about 1,510 rooms in the pipeline, with construction already ongoing for 70 percent of the rooms. The report ranks Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria as the top three African countries with the largest number of hotels and rooms in the pipeline in 2015.
Other top 10 countries include Algeria, Tunisia, South Africa, Libya, Ethiopia and Rwanda.
Egypt has 18 hotels and 6,440 rooms in the pipeline with onsite construction going on in 85 percent of the rooms, while Morocco has 31 hotels coming up and 5,474 rooms coming up 69 percent already onsite construction.
Nigeria has 51 hotels and 8, 563 rooms coming up but onsite construction ongoing for 3,369 representing 39 percent.
“It is important to distinguish between deals which are still in the planning stage and those which are becoming reality with construction started, Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco have occupied the top three slots since 2011,” the report states.
Growth in North Africa the survey indicates, has slowed considerably, impacted by unrest and political conflict. For example, Libya, a country which many groups were focusing on just two years ago, has seen no new hotel development deals.
Egypt, which has traditionally been a major growth market, lost some projects to delays and cancellations in 2014.
“As in previous years, Southern Africa continues to lag behind, with fewer rooms in development this year than in Central Africa and with the highest number of countries with no activity at all – five, namely Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland and Zimbabwe,” the report indicates.
W Hospitality Group Managing Director Trevor ward said there is confidence right across Africa, including recognition that there are opportunities beyond North Africa which can, and must, be exploited.
“Several of the international hotel chains have established local development offices, the newest being Hyatt in Nairobi, and the chains are more serious than ever about building their businesses below the equator,”he added.
