Each week, Hotel News Now compiles news from a different global region. Today’s news roundup focuses on Middle East/Africa.
MEA performance
The Middle East/Africa region reported positive performance results during April 2014 when reported in U.S. dollars, according to data compiled by STR Global, sister company of HNN.
The region reported a 2% increase in occupancy to 67%, a 7.2% increase in average daily rate to $178.93 and a 9.4% increase in revenue per available room to $119.89.
MEA pipeline
The Middle East/Africa hotel development pipeline comprises 581 hotels totaling 137,799 rooms, according to the April 2014 STR Global Construction Pipeline Report.
Among the countries in the region, United Arab Emirates reported the most rooms under construction with 16,762 rooms. Other countries to report a significant number of rooms under construction include: Saudi Arabia (16,336 rooms); Qatar (5,757 rooms); Egypt (2,966 rooms); Morocco (2,466 rooms); and Jordan (2,438 rooms).
Africa development
2014 has been a year of turmoil in sub-Saharan Africa with insurrections, terrorism and disease outbreaks. Yet the region continues to be a focal point for several global hotel brands, HNN’s Ed Watkins reports.
In recent months, an outbreak of the highly contagious Ebola virus struck Guinea and other countries along the Atlantic Ocean coast of the continent. While the outbreak has subsided, the virus accounted for 226 reported cases and 149 deaths in Guinea, and 13 cases and 11 deaths in neighboring Liberia, according to the World Health Organization. Travel to the country stalled for several weeks, but sources said the effects shouldn’t be long term.
Risk, opportunity abound in Middle East
Opportunities abound for enterprising hoteliers in the Middle East, but so too do risks. With each budding development should come a carefully balanced assessment of reward and risk, according to brand executives speaking during the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference.
“We don’t expose a lot of management commitments in this part of the world,” said Elie Younes, senior VP and head of group development for The Rezidor Hotel Group, during a panel titled “Defining the growth markets.”
China signs rail deal with East African nations
China has signed an agreement with several East African countries to build a terrestrial rail network, according to Kenyan newspaper The Daily Nation.
The standard gauge railway deal, which will lead to the construction of a 378-mile railway line, will cost 327 billion Kenyan shillings ($3.7 million), according to the report. China will finance 85% of the total cost through Export and Import (Exim) Bank of China, while Kenya will pay the remaining 15% through the railway levy charged on imported goods.
$7b waterfront project in Angola seeks hotel development
Builders of a $7-billion waterfront development in Luanda, Angola, want a hotel company such as Hilton Worldwide Holdings to boost the profile of the project, according to Bloomberg.
Baia de Luanda SA, whose shareholders include state oil company Sonangol Holdings and the president’s daughter, Isabel dos Santos, is developing four plots around the upmarket seaside bay of the city. It wants a flagship hotel to be built on the site, part of a 7-kilometer (4.3-mile) spit into the Atlantic known as the Ilha surrounded by yacht clubs and some of the city’s most expensive restaurants.
Deals and development
- Damac Properties is introducing its new hotel brand, Naia by Damac, to Dubai with the opening of a 28-story property scheduled for the first quarter of 2018, according to Hotelier Middle East.
- Action Hotels is planning to buy land in the central business district of Sharq, Kuwait City, Kuwait, to develop a 160-room hotel, according to Hotelier Middle East.
- Accor HotelServices Middle East will manage the 300-room Ibis Madinah Road in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, according to an Arabian Business report.
- Accor’s HotelServices unit has also signed management agreements with Alesayi Group to operate the 200-unit Adagio Aparthotel Jeddah Alesayi Plaza and 150-unit Adagio Aparthotel Riyadh Dhabab in Saudi Arabia, which are expected to open in 2017.
- A 100-room Bulgari-branded hotel will be developed in Dubai by Meraas Holding.
- Taj Group will open the 296-room Taj Dubai during the fourth quarter this year.
- Tsogo Sun said it acquired a 25% stake in hotel management company Redefine DBL Hotel Group for $13.6 million, according to Ventures Africa.
- Wyndham Hotel Group has signed a franchise agreement to open the 89-room Ramada Nairobi.
Compiled by Shawn A. Turner.