Cape Town occupancy rates stoke global chains' room boom
Figures released by Cape Town Tourism show annual hotel occupancy rates in Cape Town at 73% last year, a 5% increase from the previous year
South Africa needs more hotel rooms, especially in Cape Town, says Andrew McLachlan, senior vice-president for Carlson Rezidor's business development in Africa and the Indian Ocean. The performance metric used in the hotel industry is revenue per available room, or revpar; it multiplies a hotel's average room rate by its occupancy rate. Revpar grew 20% last year in Cape Town, the highest growth worldwide. In fact, "it pretty much grew everywhere in the country apart from the Northern Cape", said McLachlan. Figures released by Cape Town Tourism show annual hotel occupancy rates in Cape Town at 73% last year, a 5% increase from the previous year. Carlson Rezidor, one of the world's bigger hotel groups, has 14 hotels (with 3000 rooms) in South Africa and is negotiating a further six hotel deals. "We see South Africa as a key country, and we expect to have at least 20 hotels by the end of this decade. There's a very clear undersupply of hotel rooms in South Africa," said McLachlan. The ...
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