Region overview: 30,000 new hotel rooms planned across North Africa

According to the TOPHOTELPROJECTS construction database, North Africa’s hotel market is set to keep expanding, fuelled by strong growth in Egypt and Morocco.

Our researchers report that North Africa, a sprawling region encompassing the disputed territory of Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Sudan, will experience consistent growth over the coming years. Currently, 111 new hotel schemes with 28,422 rooms are in the pipeline here, so we’ve decided to take a closer look at the key numbers.

North Africa’s hotel openings by year

The last few months of 2021 will see 25 new properties with 6,505 rooms go live across North Africa. For 2022, moreover, a further 31 openings and 6,553 keys are being planned.

Overall, 2023 is looking a bit quieter, with just 19 launches and 6,437 rooms in the works at present. And for 2024 and beyond, 36 schemes with 8,927 keys have been mooted, with more likely to follow as time progresses.

Of the 111 hotels that we’re tracking, 50 will be in the four-star segment, and the remaining 61 will belong to the luxury five-star category.

Top growth markets in North Africa

Egypt, home to many of the region’s top tourist attractions as well as its biggest city, will see by far the highest amount of development – 56 projects and 16,838 rooms are already on the books. Ten of these hotels will open in the capital Cairo alone, bringing 2,390 extra keys into play.

Morocco follows in second place on a country-by-country basis, with 37 new hotels and 7,790 keys, helped by impressive figures for both Marrakech (10 projects, 1,217 rooms) and Rabat (nine projects, 1,385 rooms).

Algeria will see ten new properties open, meanwhile, introducing 2,191 rooms in total. This puts it well ahead of the likes of Tunisia (six hotels, 1,161 keys) and Sudan (two hotels, 242 keys).

International hotel brands looking to grow in North Africa

Radisson Blu Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Hotels & Resorts each have seven projects in the pipeline across the region, with 1,788 and 1,767 rooms respectively. As a result, they effectively share the title of North Africa’s most active hotel brand.

Interestingly, while Fairmont only comes third with six additional properties, the flag’s hugely impressive room count of 1,929 is actually higher than both of its peers.

Two hotel openings to watch in North Africa

Park Inn by Radisson Tunis will launch by late 2022, offering 102 rooms just 5 km from Tunis-Carthage International Airport. The Unesco-listed Medina of Tunis is a 20-minute walk from the hotel, whose F&B programme will include a restaurant and rooftop bar. The property will also be well-equipped for meetings, providing 261 sq m across three conference rooms, three meeting rooms and a boardroom.

Elsewhere, Egypt’s capital will be home to a standout luxury property once W Hotel Cairo opens in early 2024. This 350-key property will be part of 1-Ninety, an ultra-modern mixed-use development. It’ll boast the W Hotels brand’s signature service and amenities, while ensuring guests can easily access the many businesses, shops and leisure attractions nearby.

Many TOPHOTELNEWS articles draw on exclusive information from the TOPHOTELPROJECTS construction database. This subscription-based product includes details of thousands of hotel projects around the world, along with the key decision-makers behind them. Please note, our data may differ from records held by other organisations. Generally, the database focuses on four- and five-star schemes of significant scale; tracks projects in either the vision, pre-planning, planning, under-construction, pre-opening or newly opened phase; and covers newbuilds, extensions, refurbishments and conversions.

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