Egypt leads record African hotel boom as pipeline grows 35.5% | News

The development pipeline of African hotel chains has reached a record high of 675 hotels and 123,846 rooms by early 2026, representing an increase of 18.6% year-on-year, according to the 18th annual Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa report published by W Hospitality Group. At the center of this wave is Egypt, the undisputed powerhouse for hotel development on the continent, with 185 planned hotels and 45,984 rooms, representing 37.1% of the entire African pipeline.

North Africa as a whole now controls 50% of all pipeline space on the continent, with pipeline growth at an annual rate of 27% – more than double the 11% growth recorded in sub-Saharan Africa. The North African pipeline includes 284 hotels and 62,630 rooms and comes from four active developing markets: Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. There is currently no development pipeline in Libya.

Egypt’s dominance is reflected in every metric. With 185 hotels and resorts planned, the country has four times more rooms than second-place Morocco. The pipeline grew by 35.5% in one year, thanks to the 53 new deals signed in 2025 alone, more than any other country on the continent.

Greater Cairo has the largest urban hotel pipeline of any city in Africa, with 22,111 rooms planned across 88 projects representing 18% of the entire continental pipeline. The world’s largest hotel groups are betting heavily on Egypt: Accor has 28 hotels in the Cairo pipeline, Marriott International 20, Hilton 18 and IHG 14, the four together accounting for 16,400 rooms in the city.

The Egyptian resorts on the Red Sea are just as attractive. Sharm El Sheikh has nine pipeline projects with an average size of 539 rooms – the largest resort average in Africa’s top 10. Marsa Alam has 14 planned resorts, 53% of which will open this year and next year. Ain Sokhna brings another 15 projects into the pipeline, mainly led by Kerten Hospitality with seven projects. Egypt’s northern coast, on the Mediterranean Sea, opens up, with significant development activity in Alexandria.

Trevor Ward, Managing Director of W Hospitality Group commented: “Egypt presents a tremendous opportunity for hotel investment. The scale of what is planned – almost 46,000 rooms – is extraordinary, across some 30 different cities and resorts; what is most encouraging is that more than 50% of those rooms are already under construction. The government’s tourism target, Vision 2030, of 30 million visitors per year is creating real urgency among international operators to secure their positions now to state.”

Morocco continues to show exceptional momentum, with 75 hotels in the pipeline and 10,606 rooms – an increase of 23.6% year-on-year. The country recorded 29 new deals in 2025, the second highest number on the continent, across 13 cities and resort destinations. Accor, which has been active in Morocco for decades with more than forty hotels, remains the dominant force, even as competition from global chains increases.

Morocco’s appeal has been further boosted by its status as co-host of the 2030 FIFA World Cup, which is cited by hospitality leaders as a key catalyst for long-term infrastructure investment and international visitor growth. The country recorded almost 20 million international arrivals in 2025, a 14% increase from 2024, making it Africa’s top tourist destination for the second year in a row.

According to Lodging Econometrics, 55% of pipeline rooms in North Africa are already in active construction, compared to a global benchmark of around 40%. Morocco is particularly advanced: 64.7% of the pipeline is on site. In Egypt, 51.4% of rooms are under construction – a significant figure given the size and youth of the pipeline, with many projects signed only in the last two years.

Matthew Weihs, Growth Director of The Bench said: “Egypt is currently one of the most exciting hospitality investment stories in the world, not just in Africa. We created FHS Egypt specifically because the depth of deal flow, the caliber of investors active in the market and the government’s clear strategic vision for tourism warrant a dedicated forum. W Hospitality Group’s pipeline data makes it clear: Cairo, Sharm El Sheikh and the Red Sea Corridor are where the action is, and FHS Egypt on November 10-11 at the Sofitel Downtown Cairo Nile will be where the next wave of deals take shape.”