Peter Nyanzi
5 February 2008
Kampala — IF there is anything that the recently concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) did for the hospitality industry, it was the boost it gave to indigenous hotels.
After years of being ignored, they finally got their break after the government realised that there were not sufficient rooms to accommodate thousands of Chogm visitors.
Now, with the momentum they gained from Chogm, local hotels are boldly sticking their necks out ready to prove that they too can compete with the hospitality giants such as Sheraton Kampala Hotel, Kampala Serena Hotel and Speke Resort Munyonyo.
One such hotel is Emerald Hotel on Bombo Road. Mr Anthony Wakabi, the Emerald Hotel chief executive, told Business Power that contrary to what some industry players and other people think, Uganda's hospitality sector is far from being saturated.
"Our business plan, looked far beyond Chogm guests," he said. "The Chogm partly paved the way for the hospitality sector but the need for decent hotels has been increasing year after year and will continue to do so for many more years to come."
Mr Ismail Sekandi, the executive director of the Uganda Hotel Owners Association (UHOA), said preparing for Chogm brought about several new hotels in addition to the existing ones, which also embarked on an expansion exercise which saw the number of rooms increase to more than 6,000 up from about 2,000.
But after the meeting, there was a worry that the hotels would remain largely quiescent.
Beyond Chogm
But according to Mr Wakabi, they are looking beyond the traditional narrow "tourists hotel concept."
The so-called 'empty rooms after Chogm syndrome' does not worry Mr Wakabi.
"Ours is a much broader vision to offer a wide spectrum of warm hospitality and leisure services to the middle class, which is just growing bigger every year," he said.
Opened last year in June, the $7.8 million (Shs13 billion) investment targets the middle to top end market of both local and foreigner clientele with a special focus on the business traveller and tourist niche that seeks eye-catching but cost-effective accommodation and recreation.
"Emerald's target market is the fastest growing niche and the available hotel facilities are not sufficient to serve it," said Mr Wakabi.
He said despite extensive preparations for Chogm, Kampala City has just over 5,000 decent hotel rooms that meet international standards.
According to him, the city is still short of descent hotel facilities compared to other regional cities such as Nairobi, Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.
Decent rooms
He argued that Kampala needs about 20,000 decent hotel rooms that meet international standards to compare favourably with say Nairobi.
According to records available at the Tourism Uganda and the Ministry of Tourism, Trade, and Industry, the number of visitor arrivals increased by 75 per cent and tourists by 32 per cent between 2,000 and 2004.
The Uganda Bureau of Statistics (Ubos) estimated gross revenue from hotels, restaurants, canteens and the bar industry at about Shs370 billion in 2000/01. In terms of employment, the tourism sector is rated next to retail trade and accounts for 20 per cent of persons employed in the country.
However, the contribution of the tourism sector to the economy is currently not accurately measured because of a lack of data on important parameters such as hotel occupancy rates and expenditure by tourists.
Measures by the tourism ministry and Ubos to improve the collection and analysis of tourism data are currently underway.
The tabling of the long awaited Tourism Bill in Parliament, which industry players say is widely expected to spur the sector to greater heights, is also another matter of disquiet.
Mr Wolfgang Thorne, the president of the Uganda Tourism Association, wants the government to "move from lip service to concrete action in supporting tourism now more than ever."
In his view, there is need for a meeting, incentives, conference and exhibitions (Mice) market to capture and generally to add quality (higher spending tourist visitors) and numbers to our arrivals.
"The government should bring some real tourism experts into the discussions on how to improve tourism's economic performance in Uganda," he argued.
Nevertheless, market demand for hotel rooms is expected to rise to about 10,800 in 2009, up from about 4,800 in 2005, on the back of more visitor arrivals and the growth of the middle class in the country.
Indegenous hotels
Other larger indigenous hotels that have come up in the recent years include Hotel Africana, Metropole, and Ridar, not to mention several other smaller ones.
When the phase II expansion programme is completed later in the year, Emerald Hotel will have more than 100 rooms, which Mr Wakabi said will do very little to fill the supply/demand gap for decent hotel accommodation, which is continuing to increase every year.
At an average of just $80 per room, one of the least rates in the three-four star class hotels in the city, guests can reside in the Executive Double, Deluxe Twins or Emerald Suites.
Currently, the hotel also offers venues, facilities and services for all types of events and functions including wedding receptions conferences, board meetings and other group functions. Several of its clement restaurants deliver creatively prepared international cuisines.
But like most local investments, indigenous hotels face daunting challenges.
There is the challenge of financing and the proprietors had no choice but to borrow $2 million (Shs3.6 billion) from Barclays Bank.
Local investors sometimes also face the problem of lack of support and respect from the authorities and Emerald was no exception.
For instance, Kampala City Council authorities descended on the hotel just a week after the Chogm and demolished a perimeter wall worth Shs50 million, only two months after giving written consent to the proprietor's request to build it.
The fact that there is insufficient supply of trained hotel manpower is also a challenge, partly resulting from shortage of training facilities for hoteliers.
Even the competition from the bigger and well - established international hotels is also a challenge as well as the power outages for which the hotel proprietors have to spend millions to of shillings to run diesel generators.
However, Mr Wakabi is not scared and firmly believes that they have what it takes to scale them.
"Emerald Hotel strongly believes that none of the challenges is insurmountable,' he said. "We have the strategies laid out to face them boldly."
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 The Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
