OVERVIEW Tourism
OVERVIEW Tourism Recovery from Covid-19 will be hard. SECTOR INSIGHT The Radisson Group is adding six hotels to its African portfolio. Foreign tourists who flew into Africa in 2018 contributed a collective -billion to GDP and supported 6.5-million jobs. In addition, for every job created by the aviation sector in support of tourism, another 16.5 jobs were created (Air Transport Action Group). Travel and tourism grew in Africa at 5.6% in 2018, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). The global average was 3.9% in the same period. A survey by the W Hospitality Group reported that 90 hotels with 17 000 rooms were scheduled to open in 2020, but the company has predicted that the global pandemic will delay at least half of those projects. Ethiopia is the focus of several hotel groups, including Accor, Hilton and the Radisson Group. The Radisson Hotel Addis Ababa will be the group’s fifth in the East African country and it is adding two airport-linked hotels in South Africa (Johannesburg and Durban), a Radisson Collection Hotel Bamako in Mali and a further two hotels in Ghana and Nigeria due to open in 2023 and 2024. Radisson has a presence in 32 African countries. Other areas with potential for growth in the tourism sector include Tunisia, Zimbabwe (with a focus on ecotourism) and Tanzania, where the African Development Bank says there is “immense development potential”. In 2019 Hotelier Middle East quoted an official from STR, a travel research company, saying, “There are now just seven countries in Africa with no internationally branded properties present, compared to 18 just six years ago. Accor and Marriott continue to lead the way in Africa, not just in terms of supply, but also pipeline.” The purchase by Onomo Hotels of Bon Hotels increases the group’s footprint to 4 300 rooms in 15 African countries with a further 3 000 rooms planned. The group has also acquired the Signature Lux in Johannesburg, which caters to the “millennial and business traveller”. The creation by the African Union (AU) of the Africa Visa Openness Index acknowledges the importance of relatively free movement to the economies of the continent. HVS, in its Hotel Valuation Index (HVI) notes that countries such as Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda offer visas on arrival. Credit: Visit Rwanda AFRICAN BUSINESS 2021 42
OVERVIEW Credit: Magical Kenya A great deal can be achieved by good policy. An open-skies agreement between Morocco and the European Union in 2006 led to a 51% increase in seats by 2010. The Western Cape’s “Air Access” programme was spectacularly successful in attracting new direct flights to Cape Town. A collaborative programme between city, province, state and private sector actors, the initiative led to 15 new routes being established. Areas with potential for growth in the tourism sector include Tunisia, Zimbabwe (with a focus on ecotourism) and Tanzania, where the African Development Bank says there is “immense development potential”. Countries emerging from conflict such as South Sudan are obviously coming off a low base, but the potential is high. The same is true for Eritrea and Ethiopia, which should be able to reap a peace dividend. Hyatt Hotels & Resorts has six new hotels in development, in Morocco and Tanzania (where it already has properties) and in Algeria, Cameroon and Senegal. The company is further considering investing in Ghana, Uganda, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Kenya and Mozambique. StayEasy Maputo, a 125- room Tsogo Sun property, will be the group’s third in Mozambique and 11th in Africa outside South Africa. A new 199-suite hotel is being developed close to the Mosioa-Tunya National Park and the Zambezi National Park in Zimbabwe. Mbano Manor Hotel is just 4km from Victoria Falls. ■ ONLINE RESOURCES Africa Tourism Association.org: www.africatourismassociation.org African Tourism Board: www.africantourismboard.com African Travel & Tourism Association: www.atta.travel 43 AFRICAN BUSINESS 2021
