Revenue per available room (RevPAR), the key hotel industry performance metric, has grown for 87 consecutive months amid a period of low supply growth and strong demand, according to director Thomas Emanuel in his presentation at the Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF).
Using a 12-month moving average and U.S. dollar constant currency to remove the impact of currency fluctuations, Africa’s RevPAR was up 6.4% to US$67.10 as of August 2019. Average daily rate (ADR), up 3.3%, has had more of an impact on that growth than occupancy (+2.9).
“Africa has shown one of the better supply and demand balances on a global level,” Emanuel said. “The continent’s industry continues to expand alongside rapidly developing economies and infrastructure, so there is definite investment opportunity even though finding the right opportunity is challenging. The prospects of greater supply growth as well as political and economic instability can also create difficult situations for the region’s hotel industry moving forward.”
