Tourism in the spotlight as hotel beds shortage bites

By NICHOLAS WAITATHU

The local hospitality industry is facing an acute deficit of 10,000 classified beds, a situation, it is feared, is denying the country an opportunity to benefit from increasing numbers of international tourist arrivals.

As the two-day Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF) kicks off in Nairobi on Tuesday, the country will be put in the spotlight regarding how it intends to tackle the problem in order to attract more tourists.

Global hotels brands are expected to announce new investment deals during the forum. 

The hotels hospitality stakeholders are meeting in Nairobi under the banner of AHIF from September 24 to 25.  This is the second time Kenya is holding the event.

By end of 2012, according to the first Vision 2030 Medium Term Plan, bed capacity ought to have been increased to 65,000 beds in classified hotels.

Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) Managing Director Muriithi Ndegwa stated in a recent interview that the country’s bed capacity in categorised hotels is still below the envisioned target.

“According to the Vision 2030 first MTP, we ought to have increased the bed capacity to more than 65,000, but currently industry players estimate that the figure stands at 55,000 classified beds,” he said.

 A few years ago the Ministry of Tourism initiated a process to classify hotels with a view to knowing how many hotels are in the country for the purposes of the investors but the exercise flopped.

Tourism, Commerce and East Africa Community Cabinet Secretary Phyllis Kandie last week stated that once the Tourism Regulatory Authority (TRA) is constituted, classification of hotel will be carried out accordingly. 

Under construction

“Currently, we do not have proper data to support queries coming up, but once the authority is put in place the industry will enjoy availability of data,” she said. This year additional 1,437 rooms will be realised from hotels currently under construction in Nairobi.

Research findings by W Hospitality Group, a global consultancy firm, rates Nairobi in the second position with nine hotels under construction in the current year after Nigeria, which has 36 hotels being fast-tracked. W  Hospitality Group, which is also a founding member of Hotel Partners Africa (HPA), says the continent has 207 hotels under construction in 2013 compared to 208 constructed in 2012.

The just-released study reveals that the hotels being constructed will produce 40,000 rooms by 2017.

In terms of rooms to be produced by the new hotels, Lagos, in Nigeria, tops the list with 4,080 rooms followed by two Egyptian destinations, Cairo, with 2,843 rooms, and Hurghada, with 2,221 rooms. The next most popular places are Abuja (1,598 rooms), Algiers (1,528 rooms), Tangier (1,505 rooms) and Nairobi (1,437 rooms).

Alex Kyriakidis, the president and managing director of Marriott International in charge of Middle East and Africa, said Africa presents Marriott International with substantial opportunities for growth.

He said with one billion people, the majority of whom are Gen X and Y, some of the fastest growing economies, the hospitality industry is key to Africa’s economic success.