CASA – not just the Spanish word for “house”, but also an acronym for Conflict Affected States in Africa, a two-year old International Finance Corporation (IFC) programme looking to promote economic recovery in four African countries, namely Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and Sierra Leone. It would not be easy to […]
After 35 years in the hospitality industry, I still can’t tell you what a five star hotel is. There. I’ve said it. This so-called expert in the hotel industry doesn’t know something as simple as that! Think about it, however. Hotels are really complicated things, selling services (e.g. overnight accommodation), manufactured goods (steak pie and […]
Ed: This article aims to examine hotel supply and demand dynamics, advise that hotel markets are cyclical, and therefore a long-term view is essential. Having enjoyed several years of growth, the worldwide hotel industry is now experiencing a significant downturn, along with every other industry. Forecasts from PricewaterhouseCoopers are for an 8 per cent decline […]
Countries fight over it, communities fight over it, and individuals fight over it. The possession of land is one of the fundamental rights of man, but when contemplating a hotel development, whilst possession mat well be “nine-tenths of the law”, it’s that other 10 per cent that can be the deal breaker. Generally speaking, land […]
Search the web for “Green Hotels Africa”, and you’ll be surprised – at how few hotels there are listed! One hotel in Egypt, a couple in South Africa, and that tends to be it. Even responsiblehotelsoftheworld.com, surely an organisation that every hotel in the world would want to be part of, has only two hotels […]
Is Namibia Africa’s next tourism success story? The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) certainly thinks so, ranking it number one in terms of expected growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Some achievement for a country that was one of the last to gain its independence (from South Africa in 1990) and where tourism only achieved real […]
I have written in previous editions of Ai Tourism Investor about the inroads that the regional and international chains are making into Africa – companies such as Protea from South Africa, France’s Accor, the Brussels-based Rezidor with their Radisson and Park Inn brands, and Starwood’s Sheraton and Four Points brands. A recent survey undertaken by […]
HOTEL FUNDING IN TODAY’S ENVIRONMENT The causes and impact of the global financial crisis are on everyone’s lips right now, with everyone an instant expert on macro-economic theory all of a sudden. And much has been written about where Africa stands in the rather complicated scheme of things. The “experts”, real and instant, have good […]
Having experienced several years of stagnation, Kenya’s tourism industry was on a veritable bull-run. One million visitors in 2002 increased to an estimated two million in 2007, accompanied by an increase in the length of stay from 8.5 nights to 12.1 nights (2006). And that in turn meant a tripling of earnings, vitally important to […]
Who would have thought it? The government of Kenya is shaken to its core, the Finance Minister has had to step aside after a vote of no-confidence, a foreign country’s (Libya’s) sovereign fund, is involved in the scandal, and a commission of enquiry has been established, all because of the sale of a hotel. Our […]
