uMhlanga ripe for more hotels
GROWTH in demand in the uMhlanga region suggests that the node could sustain an additional 200 to 400 hotel rooms, newly released research has shown.
Tongaat Hulett said that a study, which it had commissioned and that had been conducted by GIW Consulting, showed that the uMhlanga hotel market represented 4% of the South African market and 28% of the KZN provincial market and over the past three years had consistently outperformed the national market in terms of occupancies, rates and revenue per available room.
GIW director Graham Wood said an analysis of the uMhlanga market had been done according to STR Global’s independent metrics. STR Global measures 340 South African hotels comprising 45 000 rooms including 15 uMhlanga hotels or 2, 000 rooms.
Wood said 41% of the uMhlanga STR market was weighted toward full service hotels with four- and five-star hotels accounting for 20% each and three-star hotels accounting for 52%.
In 2015, the uMhlanga node recorded a revenue per available room growth of 13% and last year, an 11% growth had been achieved.
“Corporate office growth in uMhlanga and the proximity of the King Shaka International Airport has seen an exponential growth in individual corporate travel demand for uMhlanga.
“International statistics show there is a strong correlation between office space demand and hotel rooms with the former being a sound forecast for the latter,” Wood said.
He said the Radisson Blu Hotel, expected to open in 2018/19 and the recent Protea Hotel by Marriott uMhlanga 120-room expansion were projects responding to the positive uMhlanga market sentiment.
Wood said that there was still capacity for at least another two hotels to operate on uMhlanga Ridge within the next three years to five years.
uMhlanga Ridgeside, the 140 hectare piece of prime real estate in the heart of the economic node of uMhlanga offered the obvious opportunity for such new hotels and Tongaat Hulett was already engaging with a number of hotel industry players in this regard.