SA’s heartbreak hotel vacancies
Hope that SA’s empty hotels will slowly fill up are dashed as prospects fade for a return of overseas tourists later this year
Hotel occupancy and revenue have bounced back from their 2020 lows. But that’s unlikely to provide comfort to the beleaguered hospitality industry, whose recovery prospects have been dealt a heavy blow by a stop-start vaccination programme, the third wave of Covid, rolling blackouts, renewed lockdowns and travel restrictions, as well as SA’s status as a high-risk destination.
Latest data from global hospitality analytics company STR shows SA hotels were 34.7% full in May, while revenue earned per available room (RevPar) reached R345.86. That’s nearly double the 18.1% and R144.80 recorded in May 2020, but still 40%-50% below the occupancy and RevPar levels recorded by STR pre-Covid in May 2019 (see graph)...
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