WINDHOEK, Namibia — African resorts are posting excellent performance as guests seek new destinations, new experiences and new authenticity.
Artur Gerber, managing director of TUI Blue, said he has seen a huge increase in demand for Africa's resorts.
“Numbers are good for the upcoming year, and we will continue to invest,” he said on a panel at the recent Africa Hospitality Investment Forum. “Customers are getting more demanding, so we are looking for new experiences, which is challenging but satisfying.
“In Africa, we are committed. In Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, we have been committed for many years, and now we have a new brand in Zanzibar, the Mora. We’ve invested in Senegal, and last week we announced we are looking seriously in Kenya with multiple brands.”
Chris Du Toit, head of commercial at South African investor and developer Collins Group Residential, said there's been high hotel demand in Africa even before 2020 in markets such as Botswana, Seychelles and South Africa.
“Guests were looking for more flexible options even before the pandemic. They are not wanting to be tied into a group, and they have flexibility in all they do,” he said.
He added playing into this trend are guests' strong preferences for conservation and sustainability in their travel choices.
“Conservation is a notion across our portfolio, and that is playing into guest demand,” he said. “We have 17 considerations, one of which is conservation. It can be a box-ticking exercise, but we hope we take it one step further.”
Getting the African resort right for both guests and investors is not often an easy exercise, said Justin Kenny, the Dubai-based senior consultant of hotel advisory services for the Middle East and North Africa at Colliers.
“The task is minimizing capital exposure in resorts, especially in the higher end. In looking for the right partners, developers and operators, we’re going for partnerships to see how we can mitigate these risks,” he said.
Resort development and operations are nearly always long-term investments, Gerber said.
“We look at ideas such as cluster setups and how we can mitigate risk by using our own airline. We have 38 planes,” he said.
Think Different
Many of Africa's emerging tourism markets still require long-haul flights. Thus, when visitors finally arrive, they expect differentiation among their choices for accommodations and experiences.
TUI Blue’s Gerber said this differentiation begins at the development stage.
“Think value propositions. We gain a lot of insights from guests; we look for trends and we analyze how they will affect our strategy. Our average length of stay is 9.9 days, and that does affect development, design and [environment, social and governance],” he said.
For Collins Group Residential, that work is beginning in Central Africa, and Du Toit and his colleagues are searching for what opportunities exist there. They are trying to determine what future guests want in a hotel stay and experience.
“We just have to explore and find them,” he said.
Gerber said differentiation and experience is also playing to the development and operations of all-inclusives, often a traditional form of resorts in the continent.
“It depends on the market. If there are restaurants around you, why bother creating your own? You want guests to explore. Also, that thinking depends on the competitive set,” he said.
He added that one benefit of all-inclusives is that they allow the sourcing of many products and offerings locally.