Malawi hotel chain unveils $32m expansion plan

Malawi’s biggest hotel chain, Sunbird Hotels, has unveiled a $32-million redevelopment and expansion programme for its hotels and resorts across the country, in a bid to attract some of the overseas visitors that are to come to South Africa for the 2010 soccer World Cup.

Sunbird Hotels board member Geoffrey Chipungu says that the group, which is listed on the Malawi Stock Exchange, will use both its own resources and debt to finance the programme.

Sunbird is 69,96% owned by the Malawi government through its development arm, the Malawi Development Corporation, with the other shareholders being the Commonwealth Development Corporation (8%) and British investor Noel Hayes (16,04%).
The hotel group owns Malawi’s biggest hotels, including the Capital and Lilongwe hotels, in the capital city of Lilongwe; Mount Soche hotel, in Blantyre; Ku Chawe hotel, in Zomba; Nkopola Lodge, in the lakeshore district of Mangochi; and Livingstonia Beach and Mzuzu hotels, in the country’s northern region.
“In order for the hotels to compete effectively, a redevelopment plan for each hotel and resort is being developed,” says Chipungu.

Sunbird CEO Connie Msiska comments that the hotel group is already engaged in talks with several banks to finance the redevelopment plan.
“With the 2010 World Cup coming to Africa, Sunbird is doing satisfactory work to make sure that it attracts more people to Malawi during this great sporting event,” says Msiska.

He says that the group intends to embark on major components of the programme, which will be funded by bank loans, in 2008, but minor works, being financed using proceeds from the stock market, have already started.
Sunbird Hotels, which used to contract foreign firms to manage its hotels, took over the management of its hotels in 2005, after parting ways with French manager Le’ Meridien.

The local management team has over the past two years seen a turnaround in the company’s fortunes, with profits soaring by 100%.

The Malawi government has also embarked on the rehabilitation of stadiums, with the main focus being on Blantyre’s Kamuzu stadium, which is the biggest in the country, in order to attract foreign teams to Malawi to prepare for the 2010 soccer World Cup.