Report: Africa Offers Hotel Chains Opportunities to Exploit

Dike Onwuamaeze

The Managing Director of the W Hospitality Group (WHG), Mr. Trevor J. Ward, whose hotel chain development pipelines in Africa has recorded 482 hotels with 84,427 rooms, has declared that there are many opportunities for the hotel chains and their owners to exploit in Africa.

The WHG is the parent company of the Radisson Hotel Group and other leading hospitality brands, which specialises in the hotel, tourism and leisure industries in Africa and is providing a full range of services to clients who have investments in the sector, or who are looking to enter them, through development, acquisition or other means.

This declaration is contained in the WHG’s report titled, “2023 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa,” which divided Africa into two main regions, i.e. North Africa that covered only five countries – Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt) and the Sub-Saharan Africa that covered 49 countries, including the Indian Ocean islands).

According to the report, the pipeline in Sub-Saharan Africa is up by 6.0 per cent on 2022 (measured by rooms) whilst in North Africa the total is up by 4.0 per cent.

The report also identified Egypt and Morocco as the giants in the North Africa while Nigeria, Ethiopia, Cape Verde, South Africa and Kenya were the giants in the Sub-Saharan Africa.

Commenting on the group’s operations in Africa, the Managing Director of the WHG, Mr. Trevor J. Ward, said that the growth of the group’s hotel chains’ presence and pipeline in Africa has been a really positive story.

Ward said that the report provided useful information for investors, governments, hospitality and real estate professionals, students and others seeking an understanding of the present and future of the hotel industry in Africa, adding that “it is easy to be negative about some of the countries of Africa, especially when one considers the macro-level data.

“But at the micro-level, at which a new hotel or resort development sits, there continue to be many opportunities for the hotel chains and their owners to exploit.”

According to him, that is why the WHG has continued to be optimistic about the future growth of the hotel industry in Africa. 

He said: “The growth of the hotel chains’ presence and pipeline in Africa has been a really positive story, and we are proud to be closely involved with it. We are based in Africa (celebrating 20 years since the establishment of our office in Lagos in 2003) and, in addition to the research work carried out for this report each year, we have provided professional advice to the owners and operators of several of the deals that are included in the data.

“We are extremely grateful to the hotel chains who contributed to our report this year, both those stalwarts who provide their data every year (thank you!), and those new to the survey in 2023.”

The group said that its report covered “the 54 countries in Africa, comprising North Africa (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt), sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian Ocean islands (Seychelles, Mauritius, Comoros and Madagascar), and provides consistent, reliable and comparable data on the development pipeline activity of the hotel chains who are operating in Africa, and those who are seeking to enter the continent for the first time.”

The Vice President, Development, Radisson Hotel Africa & Turkey, Mr. Ramsay Rankoussi, said that in the last two years only Radisson Hotel Group opened over 16 hotels in Africa and secured over 25 new hotels, representing more than 4,800 additional rooms to its portfolio.

Rankoussi said: “Our balanced development strategy across the continent along with our tailored approach and responsiveness, enable us to stay relevant to our owners.

“Our rate of materialisation and openings is a testimony to the quality of our pipeline but also translates our conversion strategy in repositioning existing hotels under one of our Radisson Hotel Group brands. 2023 is already anticipated to remain positive with nine hotel openings during the year, which will only reinforce our group’s presence across the region and will further cement our leadership as the most geographically diverse hotel company across Africa.”

Speaking in the same vein, the Regional Vice President Development, Marriott International Inc, Mr. Karim Cheltout, said that “we remain optimistic on the growth of hospitality across Africa.

“Our team did an incredible job in 2022 by signing 25 deals across the continent. We now look forward to building on this momentum in 2023. We continue to see demand from owners and franchisees for our world-renowned brands and we look forward to further strengthening our footprint in primary and secondary markets in the continent.”

Kedemure said the northern community members were victims of criminal activities, adding that in the past 18 years, they had lost many lives and cattle worth millions of naira.