Hospitality industry upswing expected

After dropping to the lowest level this decade, Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels forecasts that global hotel transaction volume will increase by 20 to 40 percent in 2010, according to initial results from the firm’s Hotel Investment Outlook 2010 report. The expected increase marks the first rise in two years.

While the outlook is more positive for this year, the firm expects the 2010 investment landscape to remain localised, characterised by ‘subdued cross-border activity’ as investors remain risk averse and favour their home markets. The exception to this, African Sun believes, is our continent, Africa. We are investing strongly across borders, we are refurbishing hotels, and leasing new properties and keeping a weather eye on OPPORTUNITY – of which there is plenty.

While much of Africa is counting on FIFA 2010 to ‘deliver the tourism goods’, we are looking beyond at how we may best serve an African market. We believe that the majority of our business is and will be derived not from off the continent, but rather from within it. 2010 will be year of upswing for the hospitality sector globally and for Africa particularly. We embrace it.

My appreciation to our Partners for a successful 2009!

For African Sun, 2009 was a year in which we grabbed the bull of opportunity with both hands and expanded our business rapidly across the continent. We are proud of our achievements and of the springboard it has given us for a strong 2010. This is borne out by the confidence our investors have shown in our value proposition, engendering a 61% uptake from shareholders in our recent fund raising round. The resulting $10 million in capital raised from within Zimbabwe is an indication of not just the viability of African Sun, but also the increasingly positive economic outlook Zimbabwe itself.

This year African Sun will focus on recognising and leveraging the value our partners bring to our organisation. We have always believed that strong alliances with governments, investors, clients, suppliers, communities and our employees are critical to our success. We thrive because of our products and proposition, but also because of our partners - and we aim always to deliver a symbiotic and positive benefit in these relationships.

So, to all African Sun partners, my appreciation for a successful 2009 and best wishes for the year to come, 2010 is set to be a great one for us all.

Nigeria hotels host FIFA Under 17 World Cup teams

Our hotels in West Africa continue to impress and last month, two of our group properties, Amber Express and Nike Lake successfully hosted teams for the just ended FIFA under 17 World Cup tournament. The tournament started on the 24th of October with the last match held on Sunday the 15th of November 2009. The teams hosted by the two hotels included home team Nigeria, Iran, Korea, Uruguay, Turkey, Netherlands, New Zealand, Gambia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Burkina Faso and the UAE.

The hotels did a great job of hosting the teams and the staff worked tirelessly to make sure everything was in order. One could see there was a lot of excitement from the hotel staff to be a part of the World Cup in their own special way! Some of the star-struck and football-lovers amongst us were lucky enough to go away with some football jerseys as souvenirs.

The teams made full use of the hotel facilities and New Zealand decided not to leave Nike Lake Resort for their training sessions and instead used the grounds at the hotel. Iran on the other hand enjoyed the hospitality so much that they stayed for 13 nights and the hotel staff branded them the "Home Team."

All in all, we were very proud of our team as they did a splendid job looking after our guests and we are glad to have made relationships that will outlive memories of the tournament. Our list of high profile guests continues to grow. First we have Obama, then we have FIFA selecting our hotels in Southern and Western Africa for their events....who’s next?

Shingi

Reviving Zimbabwe's Tourism Industry

Sharing our way of doing business

Farayi, our communications manager has just finished sharing our experiences with online investor relations with listed company executives, regulators and brokers in Accra Ghana. The presentation held at Holiday Inn Accra was well received and her abridged presentation, (seen below) shows how we are using the feedback received through our website to be responsive to shareholders and our customers alike.

The greatest percentage of feedback we receive relates to potential investors in Africa, especially in the diaspora. On balance 80 - 90% of the feedback we receive is beneficial to our business and we want to share this news with everyone as it adds a practical element to that oft-stated concept of sustainability.

Ghana is a progressive country whose 35 listed companies account for approximately US$10bn in market capitalisation. The market has about 250,000 shareholders, with an active foreign participation element. Of these shareholders 25,000 have de-materialised their shares into the CSD. There are over 1 million Internet users in Ghana so the online opportunity appears to be well justified. It's great to be able to spread the African Sun word with a diverse variety of market participants.

Holiday Inn Accra Airport is one the leading hotels in Accra. It has 168 rooms which include standard rooms, executive rooms, suites and a presidential suite. It is ideally located for the business traveller given its close proximity to Kotoka International airport.

Shingi