With an increase in tourists visiting South Africa for both business and pleasure, the hotel sector there is growing. With about 10.5 million visitors registered in 2018, a 1.7% increase over 2017, the nation has been one of the most popular tourism destinations on the African continent. In South Africa, domestic travel is also increasing, with almost 6 million travelers there in 2018. The hotel sector is growing quickly in the nation and is scoring dynamic key performance indicators in order to welcome more passengers.
The South African hospitality sector is being driven by the expanding tourism sector.
As Cape Town, often known as the Events Capital of Africa, was ranked as one of the top-50 convention locations worldwide, South Africa has become more significant as the top conference destination on the continent. In order to increase the number of convention bids submitted from April 2017 to March 2018 and expand the meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (MICE) industry, the South Africa National Convention Bureau recognized the opportunities for improvement and established a Bidding Support Programme in 2016. Despite the fact that foreign tourism growth slowed to 1.7% in 2018 from 2.4% in 2017, it still managed to attract more foreign arrivals.
Competitive Environment
In South Africa’s hospitality sector, there is a mix of national and international hotel brands. The nation features a number of distinct hotel establishments scattered throughout its major cities. 192 hotels with worldwide brands are currently operating in South Africa, which is a fairly high number for the continent of Africa. Together, these hotels increase the supply by more than 24,300 rooms and keys. When all of the hotels now under development for this area are finished, they will add more than 2,500 rooms and keys to the supply. 60% of these are at various stages of construction, while 40% are already under construction (from planning to pre-construction phases).
In 2020, there were 69.6 thousand open hotel rooms in South Africa. The country’s capacity for lodging peaked in 2004 with 71.3 thousand rooms, according to the study period. In general, hotels and other comparable establishments added more rooms over time.
The country’s occupancy rate dramatically decreased in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic.
