AHIF RETURNS TO NAİROBİ

NAIROBİ – KENYA- The Africa Hotel Investment Forum (AHIF), which is the premier hotel investment conference in Africa, attracting many prominent international hotel owners, investors, financiers, management companies and their advisers, will head back to Kenya’s capital, Nairobi later this year. AHIF will be held at the InterContinental Hotel on September 30 – October 1st 2014.

Phyllis Kandie, Kenya’s Minister of Tourism, said: “I am delighted that we have attracted Africa’s highest profile hotel investment forum back to Nairobi. Last year, AHIF took place at the same time as the Westgate siege. Despite the atrocity, hardly anybody cancelled their trip, the conference went ahead smoothly and global tourism business leaders went out of their way to give a public vote of confidence to Kenya. At that moment of crisis, the hospitality industry demonstrated what an extremely valuable asset it is – one we must not take for granted but invest in.”

AHIF 2013 was attended by 400 delegates from 20 countries, including government ministers from four African nations, The President and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council and scores of business leaders, representing virtually all the big players in hospitality in Africa.

Marianne Ndegwa Jordan, CEO, Kenya’s Tourism Finance Corporation (TFC), added: “After agriculture, Tourism is Kenya’s most important industry. We are blessed with fantastic natural tourism resources: spectacular scenery, beautiful beaches and wonderful wildlife. Kenya is the only country where you have the opportunity to see ‘the big five’, Elephant, Rhino, Lion, Buffalo and Leopard in their natural habitat.”

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), it is responsible for 19% of total exports and 10.9% of total employment. It is also a sector that WTTC predicts will continue to grow at 4.5% per annum over the coming decade.

Kenya’s hospitality industry has been eager to capitalise on the favourable tourism outlook. The latest research by W Hospitality reveals that the country’s hotel pipeline more than doubled recently, from 5 hotels with 771 rooms under development in 2012 to 11 hotels with 1,469 rooms in 2013.

AHIF is organised by Bench Events, one of the world’s leading organisers of hotel investment conferences, co-hosting annual meetings in Germany, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. These events attract the international hotel investment community, including developers, investors, management companies, tourism officials and leading advisers from around the globe, as well as industry leaders locally and regionally.

Jonathan Worsley, Chairman of Bench Events concluded: “The African economic growth story is becoming well-known. At around 5% per annum, it is a multiple of developed economies and that is appealing to international investors.

In addition to TFC, confirmed sponsors of AHIF 2014 are: Platinum Sponsors: ACCOR, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group and Mangalis Management Group. Gold Sponsors: Colliers International, Horwath HTL, Hotel Partners Africa, Hyatt International LLC, Inncom by Honeywell, Starwood Hotels and Resorts International, STR Global and Wyndham Hotel Group.

Sponsors of AHIF 2013 included: Host Partner: (KTDC) Kenya Tourist Development Corporation. Platinum Sponsors: ACCOR, Mangalis Management Group and Marriott International, Inc. Gold Sponsors: AECOM Design + Planning, Africa Export Import Bank, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Colliers International, G1 Architecture, Golden Tulip, Grant Thornton, Hilton Worldwide, Horwath HTL, Hotel Partners Africa, Hyatt International LLC, HVS, IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), Kempinski Hotels, Lonrho Hotels, Moevenpick Hotels & Resorts, Ole-Sereni, Shapooji Pallonji International, Starwood Hotels and Resorts International, STR Global and Wyndham Hotel Group.

ENDS

About the Tourism Finance Corporation (TFC)

TFC was previously known as the Kenya Tourist Development Corporation (KTDC) but it has been renamed Tourism Finance Corporation (TFC) to comply with the new Tourism Act that came into force last year. The agency owns assets, including hotels and lounges. Through its associated companies, it owned, among others, 40 per cent of Intercontinental Hotel, 33.83 per cent of Hilton Hotel, 39.11 per cent of Mountain Lodge Ltd and 5.64 per cent of Ark. TFC exists to develop and diversify Kenya's tourism industry by providing a range of advisory and financial services to investors in tourism related enterprises. Its vision is to be the leading and most reliable Development Financial Institution (DFI) providing affordable and accessible financial facilities and advisory services to the tourism investors.

About Bench Events

In addition to the next Africa Hotel Investment Forum, Bench Events is one of the organisers and founders, alongside Questex Travel + Hospitality and MEED Events, of several well-known conferences for the hotel investment industry including Berlin (IHIF), Dubai (AHIC), Istanbul (CATHIC) and Moscow (RHIC). www.benchevents.com

Further Information

For further information and high resolution images, please contact: David Tarsh on +44 (0) 20 7602 5262, +44 (0) 7770 816 070 or email: David@Tarsh.com or Mala Patel, on +44 (0) 7930 573621, email: mala.patel@benchevents.com