The growth in Uganda tourism offers opportunities for hospitality sector

Thursday, May 16, 2019

As Developers, we consider ourselves as the guardian of growth of the company. My position is to work in tandem with the investors and developers to recognize the opportunities that we can go into a joint venture in order to set up new hotels under our brands. Many people don’t know that we actually have as many as eight brands available, from the mid-market sector (Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton by Hilton) which are faster and cheaper to construct, through upscale products which includes Hilton Hotels & Resorts and right up to luxury level.

We do not construct the properties ourselves. So, getting the right partners to work with us is important to our expansion. In Uganda, we are lucky to have two high-quality partners, TWED Property Development for Hilton Kampala and High Gate Investments for Hilton Garden Inn Kampala. Once we come to a mutual contract we help our partners identify the best possible type of hotel and the right brand for them to maximize their investment.
What is your evaluation of the hotel industry in Uganda in comparison to the rest of the East Africa region?

Each and every market has its own characteristics. However, in many ways Uganda is going through the same trends that apply to the broader region. In Uganda, tourism arrivals are growing every year and there is a major opportunity to sustain the growth of the industry. Our confidence can be seen by the fact that we have committed to two hotels in different market segments. Hilton Garden Inn Kampala, which is due to open imminently, and Hilton Kampala under our flagship Hilton Hotels & Resorts brand.
In the region, how many properties and rooms does Hilton have?

In East Africa, we’ve been for almost 50 years. Hilton Nairobi and Hilton Addis Ababa are two of our oldest hotels on the entire African continent. Currently, we have built our African presence up to 44 hotels and we have a further 56 in the pipeline. Increasing these numbers has become a renewed focus for us in recent years.

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