Egypt dominates the African hotel development pipeline each year, with almost 26,250 rooms in 109 hotels
Egypt and the leading global hotel chains Accor, Hilton, IHG, Marriott International and Radisson Hotel Group dominate the hotel development pipeline in Africa, according to a report, African Hotel Chain Development Pipeline.
The report for the year 2024 attributes a market share of 28 pc for Egypt and 71 pc for the Big 5 global chains. The survey, conducted by Lagos-based W Hospitality Group and Africa Hospitality Investment Forum (AHIF), is based on responses from 47 global and regional (African) hotel chains, reporting on a pipeline of hotel development activity totaling around 92,000 rooms in 524 hotels, in 41 of Africa’s 54 countries.
It says that significant trends to emerge in the past year include strong growth, over 9 pc, in both North and sub-Saharan Africa, an increase in very large hotels, where the average size of the largest 10 hotels is 770 rooms, up from 723 rooms in 2023 and a rapid growth in resorts, up by 32 pc on 2023.
In this respect, Zanzibar has performed particularly strongly. There, the pipeline has grown from seven resorts with 983 rooms in 2023 to 14 resorts and 2,048 rooms in 2024, a sign of confidence in these Indian Ocean islands.
The report says that Egypt dominates the African hotel development pipeline each year, with almost 26,250 rooms in 109 hotels. The country’s pipeline, up by 19 hotels and about 5,200 rooms in 2023, is larger than the next four countries put together.
It has well over three times the number of rooms as second-placed Nigeria, which has 7,622 rooms in 50 hotels. Third-placed Morocco has 7,169 rooms in 52 hotels and Ethiopia, in fourth place, has 5,128 rooms spread across 31 properties.
The statement adds that there has been an extremely strong increase in the number of resort projects in the pipeline, growing from 24 pc of the total in 2023 to 30 pc in 2024. In addition, around half of the rooms in hotels and resorts that opened last year were in resorts.
Boa Vista in Cape Verde scores highly because of the very large average size of the resorts there
Both Boa Vista in Cape Verde and Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt score highly because of the very large average size of the resorts there. The largest hotel in the entire pipeline is a Rixos resort being planned in Sharm El Sheikh, with over 1,800 rooms.
The Big 5 global chains, Marriott International, Hilton, Accor, Radisson Hotel Group and IHG Hotels and Resorts, account for 66 pc of hotels and 71 pc of rooms in the entire African pipeline.
The report says that Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel chain, remains in the lead for the third consecutive year as number one, with almost twice the number of pipeline hotels and rooms as second placed Hilton, and it has the largest number of rooms added in the year.
Accor takes the third spot with a pipeline has actually decreased, from a high of about 20,250 rooms in 2022 to 13,375 rooms today. Executives say that they are focused on having a “clean and achievable pipeline, rather than numbers for numbers sake”.
Accor’s quote highlights a key issue in tracking hotel development in Africa, which is differentiating between hotel projects that are proposed from those that are under construction and from those that have been completed.
When it comes to hotels under construction, Marriott International leads the way, with 138 hotels with 15,011 rooms currently being built. It is followed by Hilton with 72 hotels, 5,955 rooms, Radisson Hotel Group with 35 hotels and 5,748 rooms and Accor with 70 hotels, 3,346 rooms. TUI Hotels and Resorts has charged into the rankings in fifth place with 12 hotels and 2,208 rooms under construction.
