Hotels: Addis Ababa, the most expensive city in Africa

Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, has become the African city with the highest average room rate, ahead of Accra and Lagos.
Addis Ababa Hyatt Regency
Hyatt Regency has opened its first hotel in Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa.

According to STR, a consultancy specialising in the hotel and property sectors, Addis Ababa over the last twelve months the highest room rate in Africa. From July 2018 to June 2019, the average price in the Ethiopian capital - measured in constant currency, which eliminates the effects of inflation - stood at US$163.79. This represents a year-on-year increase of 1.1 %. On the continent, Addis Ababa thus overtakes Accra in Ghana ($160.34) and the Lagos metropolitan area in Nigeria ($132.51).

"Addis Ababa continues to maintain high average price levels compared to international levelscomments Thomas Emanuel, Director of STR. The factors driving demand for Addis Ababa are a booming economy, a thriving airline and its status as Africa's diplomatic capital. Air links and ease of access compared with other cities also play a part in justifying the high demand from business travellers, prompting local hoteliers to keep their rates high."

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The hotel market is booming in the Ethiopian capital, which boasts 22 hotels and 4,820 rooms under developmentaccording to STR statistics. The average occupancy rate for Addis Ababa over the last twelve months was 58.4 %, up 6.5 points on the previous year. Cairo and Giza, however, had the highest occupancy on the continent with 74.51 %, followed by Cape Town (65.0 %) and Accra (59.7 %).