Egypt leads the pack in African hotel development
The survey, conducted by Lagos-based W Hospitality Group, in association with the Africa Hospitality Investment Forum, is based on responses from 45 global and regional African hotel chains.
Top 10 dominance
The research covers a pipeline of hotel development activity totalling around 84,400 rooms in 482 hotels, in 42 of Africa’s 54 countries.
The top 10 countries represent 68% of hotels in the survey, and 74% of the rooms.
Northern power
North Africa continues to dominate the pipeline, with Egypt far ahead. It alone numbers 21% of the hotels and 30% of the rooms being planned or built on the entire continent, with almost 25,000 rooms in 103 hotels.
West Africa’s share of the total is slightly down this year, despite having the largest number of countries. After several years of slumber, Central Africa is increasing its share, particularly in Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Country-wise, Egypt is streaking ahead of the pack, with more than three times the number of rooms being developed in second-placed Nigeria, and four times Morocco and Ethiopia..
Young pipeline
Despite leadership in the absolute pipeline numbers, Egypt has the lowest percentage of rooms onsite due to its relatively ‘young’ pipeline. Of the total 103 projects, half were signed in 2020 and later, nearly 60% of the rooms.
In contrast, Morocco and Algeria have some of the highest ratios of rooms under construction on the continent. After Egypt, Nigeria has quite a low percentage onsite, and of the 22 hotels that have started construction there, eight of them, with about half of the ‘onsite’ rooms, have stalled and the sites are closed. This often happens due to a lack of funds.
On a city basis, Greater Cairo has by far the largest share, 12% of the entire pipeline, followed by Sharm El Sheikh and Addis Ababa.
Brand leaders
As in previous years, three international hotel chains top the table: the USA’s Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide, plus France-based Accor, with Marriott pulling firmly ahead in 2023.
Radisson has been opening hotels at a faster pace than any other operator, with some hotels opening the same year they are signed – four in Morocco in 2021, and one in Tunisia in 2022. Marriott is projecting a massive number of openings in 2023, more than opened in total for all the chains in 2022, and Accor is forecasting a catch-up with eight times its 2022 performance.