Egypt, Marriott boost Africa pipeline

AFRICA – There are 577 hotels and resorts, with 104,444 rooms in the Africa development pipeline, up by 13.3% in early 2025 over 2024 and way ahead of the single digit pipeline growth reported globally by the leading international chains, according to new data from 50 hotel companies collected by Lagos-Nigeria-based W Hospitality Group.

North Africa saw a 23% year-on-year increase, compared to a 6% increase in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the past five years, the hotel development pipeline has grown at an annualized rate of 4% in sub-Saharan Africa, 12% in North Africa and 7% overall.

W Hospitality Managing Director Trevor Ward told Hotel Investment Today last week that that much needs to be done to convert the deals to openings.

“There was significantly greater activity in Africa last year, both in deal-making and in properties opening – but we do need more,” Ward told Hotel Investment Today. “The development pipeline averages about 10 per country on the continent, and the opening of hotels and resorts last year averaged just over one per country. Both metrics are about one-tenth of global averages.

“We’re getting there, the number of hotels and resorts that opened in 2024 was double the previous year’s figure, and I think that could double again this year.”

Egypt continues to lead the way in terms of development with 143 hotels and 33,926 rooms in the pipeline. This is almost four times the number of rooms in second-placed Morocco, which has 8,579 rooms in 58 hotels. The following eight countries, ranked by number of rooms, comprise Nigeria, 7,320; Ethiopia, 5,648; Cape Verde, 5,565; Kenya, 4,344; Tunisia, 4,336; South Africa, 4,076; Tanzania, 3,432; and Ghana, 3,125. International hotel chains have deals signed in 42 of Africa’s 54 countries.

Despite its clear leadership in the absolute pipeline numbers, Egypt has fewer than 50% of rooms under construction, a significantly lower proportion than second-placed Morocco, with over 72%.  Of the top 10 countries, Ethiopia has the highest ratio of rooms “on site,” followed by Morocco and Ghana.  Cape Verde, Nigeria and Tanzania have some of the lowest percentages. However, “under construction” does not necessarily mean that there is activity and progress towards completion and opening – many of the sites in Nigeria and Ghana, for example, have been closed for several years, with hardly a hard hat in sight.

A more granular analysis, looking at the location of planned properties, reveals a boom in Cairo, with 17,757 new rooms projected in over 70 hotels. The contrast with the second-placed location, Sharm El Sheikh, is dramatic, where 4,231 rooms are planned in fewer than 10 properties. The cities and resorts with the next largest pipelines by number of rooms, are Lagos, 3,709; Boa Vista, 3,650; Addis Ababa, 3,369; Casablanca, 2,939; Accra, 2,652; Abuja, 2,570; Zanzibar, 2,523; and Dakar, 2,334.

The growth is being driven strongly by the major international hotel chains with Marriott International leading the way with 165 hotels with 29,639 rooms. It is followed by Hilton, 93 hotels with 17,040 rooms; Accor, 73 hotels with 15,013 rooms; IHG, 40 hotels with 7,951 rooms; Radisson Hotel Group, 32 hotels with 6,346 rooms; TUI Hotels & Resorts, 11 hotels with 2,954 rooms; Barceló Hotels & Resorts, 7 hotels with 2,193 rooms; The Ascott, 15 hotels with 1,897 rooms; Kerten Hospitality, 13 hotels with 1,881 rooms; and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, 7 hotels with 1,706 rooms.

In the race for dominance, Hilton added slightly more rooms to its African pipeline last year than Marriott and achieved a higher percentage growth. Barceló Hotels & Resorts recorded the largest percentage growth, more than doubling its pipeline to 2,193 rooms, with three large resort signings in North Africa.

Below the headline numbers, there are three notable trends. First, the actualization rate (actual openings vs. expected openings), which has nearly doubled from 21% in 2023 to 38% in 2024. While it’s substantially less than the 75% actualization rate achieved in 2019, it shows a continuing recovery from the economic devastation of COVID-19. Of the total 104,444 rooms in the pipeline, over 50,000 rooms (nearly 50%) in 304 hotels are expected to open in 2025 and 2026.

Second, resort projects are increasing much faster than city or airport hotels, both in percentage terms and in absolute numbers, driven by the number of signings and by the larger average size of the developments, 210 keys versus 170. Also, almost half of the rooms that opened last year were in resorts.

Third, there is a definite movement by the chains towards the franchise model with 108 projects representing almost 19% of the total, compared to less than 10% in 2020. A major factor is the emergence of quality, international, white-label operators such as Aleph Hospitality and Valor Hospitality, and some indigenous operators in Nigeria, Kenya and elsewhere, that are increasing confidence that brand standards will be met.

“Despite the various trials that the continent faces, the fact that hotel chains signed 125 new deals last year, with 21,000 rooms, is evidence that opportunities for further development abound,” Ward said. “According to the Global Cities Institute, by the year 2100, 10 of the world’s 16 largest cities will be in Africa, with all but one of them (Cairo) in sub-Saharan Africa. So, one might say that development activity in Africa has barely scratched the surface.”