…as Africa Hotel Revenue per available room (RevPAR) up for 87th consecutive month
Nigeria is conspicuously missing on the list of African countries that boast of more than 50, 000 hotel rooms with only Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and South Africa making the list.
This is according to leading hospitality industry research company STR.
In the words of STR director, Thomas Emanuel, in his presentation at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) in Nairobi last week, Africa has just roughly 5,000 hotels despite its massive geographical area.
Only four countries in the continent, according to him, offer more than 50,000 rooms, namely Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and South Africa.
“Africa has shown one of the better supply and demand balances on a global level,” Emanuel said. “The continent’s industry continues to expand alongside rapidly developing economies and infrastructure, so there is a definite investment opportunity even though finding the right opportunity is challenging. The prospects of greater supply growth, as well as political and economic instability, can also create difficult situations for the region’s hotel industry moving forward.
According to him, Accor and Marriott International represent the largest inventory presence in Africa. Six years ago, there were 18 countries with no globally branded hotels. Today, there are only seven countries in that category.
Similarly, revenue per available room (RevPAR), the key hotel industry performance metric, has grown for the 87 consecutive months amid a period of low supply growth and strong demand, according to Emanuel.
Using a 12-month moving average and U.S. dollar constant currency to remove the impact of currency fluctuations, Africa’s RevPAR was up 6.4% to US$67.10 as of August 2019. Average daily rate (ADR), up 3.3%, has had more of an impact on that growth than occupancy (+2.9).
Giving a breakdown of performance across selected African countries, Emanuel said Dakar, Senegal has seen RevPAR rise since 2017. New supply in Senegal has been more focused away from Dakar, and more toward Saly and the Blaise Diagne International Airport. Supply is however expected to ramp up in Dakar ahead of the Summer Youth Olympics in 2022.
Also, there is significant performance variance across Morocco, but Casablanca continues to pull down overall figures for the country.
New supply continues to have a negative effect on performance in Nairobi, Kenya.
Addis Ababa has seen significant demand growth thanks to more corporate business and expanded air routes, he said.
– Segun Okeowo, TCN
1 comment
Interesting