African hospitality and its many socio-economic benefits

As African countries strive to tackle the socio-economic challenges that beset the continent, one area they may have to focus on for solution is the hospitality industry. That is one industry that is forecast to be a major growth driver for the continent as we begin the third decade of the 21st century.

The figures indicate great potential for the hospitality industry that requires very minimal foreign input to thrive and contribute to raising the standard of living on the continent. This should be good news in a continent that is almost totally dependent on outside help for even the basic ingredients for economic growth, as we are seeing in current moves in the direction of China and Europe for development of infrastructure in different countries, including Nigeria.

Such has been the phenomenal growth of the hospitality industry in Africa in the last few years that international hotel brands are looking more and more to the continent for increase in their business fortunes. Needless to say, indigenous brands are not standing by to watch. They have since joined the fray.

One would therefore not be far from the truth to say that there is, at the moment, a scramble for a piece of Africa’s hospitality cake by international and indigenous operators. This scramble is reflected in the frenzy with which hospitality operators are expanding their operations on the continent through building of new hotels outside areas where they currently operate.

The expansion will increase after the continent has assumed a new status as the world’s largest free trade area with the expected coming into operation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCTA), later in the year. The expectation is that apart from opening up the continent for more trade with other parts of the world, AfCTA would increase intra-African trade among countries on the continent. And with the relatively easy movement that will obtain within the free trade area for both outsiders and Africans, the demand for hospitality services will continue to be on the increase.

The situation in Africa’s hospitality industry as it stands today should give hope of an even brighter future for the continent in that area. The industry is contributing immensely to the continent’s effort to chart a new course that would lead to the much needed economic growth and improved standard of living of its peoples.

At the last count, the hospitality industry contributed over $194 billion to Africa’s economy, or 8.5 per cent of its GDP, as at 2018. The industry created 24.3 million jobs, which represented about 6.7 per cent of the total employment, in the same year.

The significance of the contributions of hospitality to Africa’s economic growth must be looked at beyond the official numbers. What are the impacts it has made on the lives of those that work in the entire value chain of the industry? Apart from the direct employment it has created for skilled and unskilled workers who are engaged in hotels as managers, administrative staff, chefs, waiters, porters and maintenance staff, there are thousands outside the direct employment of hotels in the agro-allied sector, transportation, clothing, etc. The more hotels that are built, the more there are jobs for these categories of people to engage in.

A direct fallout of the increase in employment generation by the hospitality industry in Africa is the opportunity it has afforded citizens of the different nationalities on the continent to acquire skills and competencies that are comparable with those in other parts of the world.

International hotels do not come to Africa with the full complement of staff from their home countries. They may come with people at the top management level, usually on secondment from their hotels in other parts of the world. But they need Africans to fill key and in some cases strategic positions in the hotels they set up on the continent. This means training Africans to fit into those positions.

The coming to Africa of international hotel brands has enabled indigenous hotels to develop their own manpower to be able to offer services that meet international standards, since they must compete in the same market and for the pockets of the same class of guests. Many of those guests travel around the world and are used to the best standards. There are many African-owned hotels that are run wholly by Africans in all departments, with standard that meets the one offered by the big names. Hospitality has not only given Africans jobs, it has also given them the requisite skills needed to compete in the industry.

In the final analysis, the overall benefit of hospitality to Africa lies in the fact that it has raised the standard of living of a good number of people on the continent, if it is considered that apart from those in direct employment in hotels, there are thousands whose quality of live has improved through association with the industry. Parents are able to feed their families, cater to their health needs, the educational of their children, as well as some extra little social needs in various areas.

Ongoing expansion of hotels on the continent is a positive sign for the industry. It indicates an increasing role of the industry in the continent’s economic growth, with positive indices on the quality of life of its peoples.

Agunbiade, a former employee of a Lagos-based international hotel, is a hospitality practitioner