Hotel Partners Africa (HPA), an alliance of three hospitality consultancies with a focus in the African market, has recently released the African Hotel Report 2015 that ranks Zambia as the second top destination for hotel developers in Africa.
Zambia with an average growth of 6.5% per annum in the last six years in the hotel industry and a supply of 122 branded bedrooms per million population (bedrooms/million), represents the second biggest opportunity in Africa after Seychelles with an average growth of 7.0% in the last six years and an estimated of 275 bedrooms/million.
Hotel values have been growing strongly and in Zambia together with other nations representing 76% of African countries, the hotel investments have yielded higher than the average property investment, the report indicates.
HPA Head of Property Services David Harper, explained that despite falling commodity prices and currency values in Zambia and other Sub Saharan countries, hotel development provides a big investment opportunity were the return is far higher than the risk involved.
Central Africa is a real undersupplied market and a great development potential exists in the region for hotel developers, states the report.
As such investments in the hotel industry are moving from the traditional markets as Egypt, Morroco and South Africa with a large supply, to countries as Zambia where supply is low and growth is high, Mr. Harper added.
The supply in Zambia is far below the average supply in Southern Africa at 350 bedrooms/million and a potential to reach the 365 bedrooms/million in the mid-term.
According to a PricewaterhouseCooopers (PWC) research, the hotel industry in Southern Africa is expected to grow at an average rate of 6.8% towards the year 2019.
