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Cape Town retains the biggest share of planned hotel development in South Africa, according to the annual hotel pipeline survey by W Hospitality Group.
This is despite Cape Town showing a decrease in total planned rooms, according to the report.
Cape Town has 25% of the South African development pipeline, with 1 063 rooms in six hotels planned. Durban now has 16% with 697 rooms in five hotels planned, an increase of 40% in terms of total rooms compared to last year.
Pretoria has 11% of the pipeline, with 463 rooms in three hotels planned.
Johannesburg has only 10% of the pipeline, with 432 rooms planned in four hotels, while Umhlanga has 7% of the pipeline, with 298 rooms in two hotels.
'Projects all over'
Compared with last year, development is slowing in Cape Town and Pretoria, with the number of planned rooms down 22% and 28% respectively. In contrast Durban, Johannesburg and Umhlanga (north of Durban) are seeing growth of 40%, 23% and 113% respectively.
"While Cape Town continues to offer great opportunities for hotel investment, it is exciting to see new hotel construction projects all over SA," says W Hospitality Group’s managing director Trevor Ward.
Such places include Addo, Ballito, Boschendal, Hermanus, Malelane, Mossel Bay, Nelspruit, Paarl, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Rosebank, St Francis, Stellenbosch, Tsitsikamma and Umfolozi.
Africa
The 41 contributors to the latest report indicate 418 deals with over 100 brands across Africa. In 2018, the year-on-year performance for Africa as a whole shows growth, but at a more muted pace than in recent years. There was a 25% growth in the number of pipeline rooms in 2015; 19% in 2016, and 13% in 2017 - much the same as the 14% growth reported for the 2018 report.
Hotel development in Africa in general, and particularly in SA, will be a core topic on the agenda of the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) Regional Briefing, taking place in Cape Town on 13 June.
Speakers will include senior executives from Hilton, Marriott and other leading brands as well as economists, financiers and advisors to the hospitality industry.
The event takes place in parallel with AviaDev, the aviation development conference, which was launched by Bench Events in 2015.
"Hotel development is successful when more tourists come, and a significant contributing factor is air access. In this respect, one must congratulate local government and trade associations in SA for their efforts to encourage tourism-oriented development and their concerted initiatives to attract more flights," says Matthew Weihs, managing director of Bench Events.
According to the International Air Transport Association (Iata) the top ten fastest growing aviation economies over the next 20 years will all be in Africa.
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