TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel said recent protests in the Canary Islands are not about tourism, but rather about a shortage of housing and lack of regulation of online platforms like Airbnb.
17.04.2024 - 07:59 / skift.com / Jesse ChaseLubitz
TUI Group’s hotel division, TUI Hotels & Resorts, said on Tuesday it planned to expand its presence in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with significant tourism potential.
The move comes after years of concentrating on North Africa, where TUI boasts a portfolio of 76 hotels. The new push southwards includes eight new hotels planned for Cape Verde, Gambia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Kenya.
The expansion is meant to serve a range of target groups, such as vacationers looking for more affordable trips to luxury travelers looking for elevated experiences.
The company said it’s “looking forward to contributing to the development of the African hospitality industry and working together with local communities,” but it didn’t go into detail about how those collaborations would happen, other than to call out TUI’s new hotel brand, The Mora, which is debuting in Zanzibar.
“Our hotel brand TUI Blue, as well as the new brand The Mora, are committed to creating a local touch in their hotel experiences,” a TUI spokesperson said in response to a Skift query. “This can be achieved in many different ways, from local suppliers, e.g. for food-and-beverage, to entertainment from the region or in collaboration with local designers.”
The company says it is collaborating with Sands of Darakasi Resorts Limited to build a TUI Blue hotel in Kenya and that it is looking to partner with other local groups to grow the franchise in the region.
“Independent hotel owners can benefit from our hotel brands, our expertise in operations, and the digital hotel infrastructure,” said a TUI spokesperson.
In East Africa, TUI focuses primarily on Mauritius, Tanzania, and Kenya.
There are several reasons that tour companies could be drawn to the market now.
“The likely reason that there is greater interest now by TUI in Africa is because [it offers] a low cost for a good product, there’s a greater marketing push from African destination marketing organizations in the European market, and there’s a potential substitution away from perceived risky Middle Eastern destinations because of current conflicts,” said Oliver Martin, Senior Director at Skift Advisory.
TUI is also tapping into a young market. In 2023, The World Travel and Tourism Council projected that travel and tourism could boost the continent’s economy by $168 billion in the next 10 years.
There is particular potential for internal travel on the continent.
Domestic tourism in South Africa took off in 2023, with overnight trips climbing by 31% for the first four months compared to 2022, and domestic travel spending increasing by 41%.
For now, domestic tourism is essential to the industry’s growth due to high travel costs and poor transportation networks within and between countries. The
TUI CEO Sebastian Ebel said recent protests in the Canary Islands are not about tourism, but rather about a shortage of housing and lack of regulation of online platforms like Airbnb.
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