This article underscores Namibia's potential as a premier tourism destination, driven by its natural beauty, strategic initiatives, and increasing tourism contributions to the economy.
Tunisia had more than 9 million international tourists prior to the pandemic and saw a sharp increase in tourists since 2016. Kevin Dyck is the owner of Mosaic North Africa and North Africa Tours Director and according to his interview regarding the impact of Covid-19 on South Africa/ Other African nations he mentioned that "We work in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and recently we have private tours to Egypt. The tourism industry has come to a stop for international travelers visiting Algeria."
Morocco is located in North Africa, a lot of its country depends on tourism, and it is the second or third largest industry in Morocco. There are 585 hotel properties in Morocco participating in the Smith Travel Research (STR) data. Oriental Bay Beach Golf & Spa Resort Saidia is the largest hotel in Morocco with 614 rooms followed by Mogador Palace Agdal Marrakech with 610 rooms. Majority of the Moroccan hotels are upscale class, at 34.36%, followed by 17.09% economy class as shown in the pie chart below.
Cape Town is one of the most multicultural cities in the world, reflecting its role as a major destination for immigrants and expatriates to South Africa. As of 2018, the city had an estimated population of 4.5 million. The CTICC CEO Julie-May Ellingson has announced a R900m CTICC 2 development, this planned all glass sky bridge between the two parts of Cape Town International Convention Centre could become the mother city’s latest tourist attraction.
Johannesburg has become a destination of choice for business due to an outstanding reputation for quality and affordability. As of 2018 the city had an estimated population of 8.3 million. The city generates 16% of South African GDP and employs 12% of the national workforce. Johannesburg is the home to the Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE) that is rated as one of the top 20 exchanges in the world in terms of market capitalization.
Nairobi is the only city in Africa whose airports are recording higher growth for domestic capacity than that of international capacity, with a 22% boost. This is according to a new report by ForwardKeys, which compares Nairobi's trend to most of the other top 10 African Airports ranked by total scheduled capacity for August to December 2017, which are seeing more growth in international than in domestic capacity.
The year 2016 was a busy and interesting one for the African hotel market. Hotel investment in Africa made progressive strides, with new hotels launched in new countries and cities across the continent and economic and political events, currency volatility and fluctuating tourism demand bringing both challenges and opportunities to hotel markets across the region.
Nigeria's new administration has been in power for more than a year now. President Muhammadu Buhari took power on an anti-corruption platform, the total defeat of Boko Haram and a return to significant economic growth. With the country in a state of limbo due to the President's protracted absence from office because of illness, what has been the government's performance record thus far? And how has this impacted the hotel industry?
The security and economic challenges facing Nigeria especially in the previous year 2016, have had many foreign travellers shying away from the African giant. However, despite the threat posed by terrorism, the country still managed to generate NGN 88.2bn (US$ 2.8 millions) from International visitors. This is according to the recently launched Nigerian hospitality report by Jumia Travel Nigeria, which further shows that this figure is expected to fall by 7.3% in 2017, if the security challenges in the country persist.
Much of the news about the South African economy in recent months suggests that we are facing times tough ahead. With the International Monetary Fund's July 2016 projection for growth in the economy of just 0.1 % in 2016 and ongoing fears about a ratings agency downgrade to junk status, the general view is that investor confidence is low, money is tight and business is slow.
This article highlights the macro factors impacting the South African hotel market and also provides a 2016 outlook.