Kenya: Tanzania, Kenya to Have Fastest Growing Hotel Industry - P Wc

Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam)

TANZANIA and Kenya are projected to have the next fastest growing hotel industry in Africa thanks to ongoing extensive tourism promotional campaigns, robust economy and strong visitors appeal, a new report says.

The report by PricewaterhouseCoopers on hospitality outlook says room revenue rose to a 15 .4 percentage point turnaround in Tanzania and a 28 percentage point turnaround in Kenya.

In Tanzania, the impact of the 18 per cent V AT on tourist services and rising visa costs for business

visitors that hurt the market in 2017 was largely absorbed in 2018 and guest nights rebounded.

"We project Tanzania and Kenya to be the next fastest growing with compound annual increases of 8.2 per cent and 7.4 per cent, respectively.

Increased room capacity, a strong economy, growth in tourism from India and China, and Tanzania's appeal as an exotic destination will fuel growth over the next five years," PWC said in the outlook.

"Overall room revenue in South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius, Kenya and Tanzania rose 7.4 per cent in 2018, up from the 1.9 per cent increase in 2017, principally reflecting a 28 percentage point turnaround in Kenya, a 15.4 percentage point turnaround in Tanzania, as well as a 7.2 percentage point improvement in Nigeria.

Mauritius continued to grow at doubledigit rates in 2018 but room revenue growth in South Africa fell to only 0.5 per cent." Tourism is the main source of hard currency in Tanzania, best known for its beaches, wildlife safaris and Mount Kilimanjaro.

It generated 2.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2018 from 2.3 billion dollars earned in 2017 as the number of tourists visiting the country rose from 1.3 million in 2017 to 1.5 million in 2018, according to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Prof Adolf Mkenda.

Releasing the ministry's tourism statistics at a news conference in Dar es Salaam in May, Prof Mkenda said the top 15 tourist markets accounted for 71.8 per cent of total visitors with the United States of America taking the lead accounting for 15.6 percent, followed by Kenya and the United Kingdom.

The tourism sector recorded 25 percent of earned foreign currency that contributed to 17 percent of the gross domestic product, he said.

Prof Mkenda said the statistics were collected by the ministry in 2018 in collaboration with the Bank of Tanzania (BoT), National Bureau of Statistics, Immigration Department and the Zanzibar Commission for Tourism.