Taking place on 16 November in Lagos at the Oriental Hotel, the inaugural WAPI Hospitality Forum is set to drive investment and development in one of the African continent’s most attractive hotel markets comments its convenor API Events’ Murray Anderson-Ogle.
“The West Africa Property Investment (WAPI) Summit has cemented itself as the only premier real estate event in West Africa and the addition of the hotel forum is a natural evolution of the market for our community, who are increasingly invested in the hotel space. As West Africa is a market home to the continent’s largest and fastest growing economies, the need for multiple hotel offerings for business, leisure and different price points continues to be a significant opportunity for investors.”
Speaking ahead of the WAPI Hospitality Forum, Radisson Hotel Group’s West Africa Development Director, Erwan Garnier, expressed the global hospitality’s brand’s continued focus on Nigeria and West Africa. With 9 hotels in Nigeria open and under development, the global hotel leader aims to increase its occupancy significantly across the country.
Radisson’s Growth Ambitions:
“Our target in Nigeria is to increase our portfolio by 50% by 2025. The primary focus for expansion is the capital city of Abuja, followed by Lagos and Port Harcourt. We are also considering our expansion to major state capitals. We plan to grow each of our six brands in Nigeria, including our brand new Radisson Individuals brand, to support potential conversions,” said Erwan Garnier.
Sharing Garnier’s sentiments on the opportunities in West Africa, Trevor Ward of W Consulting Group believes that some of the biggest opportunities for hotel investors should prioritise the affordable segment instead of exclusively on luxury and high-end assets.
The Major Opportunity in Economy Hotels in West Africa
“There are secondary cities in several West African countries that could carry new (branded) products. The biggest need is for economy and midscale hotels, catering for domestic and regional travellers, but development in those segments is woefully lacking. Chains such as City Lodge and Tsogo Sun have cracked it in South Africa, but it’s not happened in West Africa yet,” said Ward.
For Allan Wantenaar of HTI Consulting, the opportunities in West Africa are considerable, especially as demand continues to rebound and in some instances are exceeding pre-pandemic levels of market demand and investor/ developer appetite remains positive.
“Considering the current strong commodity cycle, it is creating more liquidity in the market which is being deployed into alternative investments which include hotels. When compared to many other markets across Sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa has shown remarkable resilience and has recovered quicker compared to their East and Southern African counterparts. There are still many primary and secondary nodes that are underserviced from an accommodation perspective. Owners and investors are still looking to expand their presence in West Africa (mainly through acquisitions and conversions) while looking strategically at their existing portfolio and how they could innovate their offering to better position their products and defend against future supply cycles. Unfortunately, ballooning development costs, protracted development timeframes and cautious capital markets remain factors dampening greenfield developments.”
As API Events’ Murray Anderson-Ogle ends, “The WAPI Hospitality Forum is a valuable addition to our programme, and we look forward to sharing insights to over 400 investors and developers searching for strategic opportunities. We believe that Nigeria and West Africa are some of the most attractive markets for investors and developers targeting returns in Africa.”
Taking place on 16 November at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos, Nigeria, the WAPI Hospitality Forum is a deep dive into the regional hotel sector and takes place alongside the WAPI Summit. Featuring over 25 speakers from leading brands including, Radisson, Marriot, Accor and others, the event will provide insights and networking opportunities for the players building West Africa’s growing hospitality sector.
To attend the WAPI Summit, delegates can visit the website, www.wapisummit.com to register.
