Hospitality leader TPS Eastern Africa, majority-owned by Aga Khan IV, plans to construct a $30-million multi-purpose conference facility in Nairobi, CEO Ashish Sharma has announced.
The facility will cost approximately $30 million.
Feasibility studies have kicked off and are set to be completed around December, he added.
The facility will be built on a 1.12-acre piece of land currently used as a parking area for the Nairobi Serena Hotel. Financing for the project will come from loans and partner support.
The new conference facility will include a conference room capable of accommodating between 500 and 1,000 people, banqueting space, meeting rooms, and an underground car park.
It will also provide opportunities for firms to lease space and operate their businesses.
In April, TPS Eastern Africa announced a Sh870.87 million net profit for the financial year ended December 2023, marking a 2.3 times jump from the previous year on increased business.
The latest profit is a growth from Sh379.69 million posted in the previous year and translates to record earnings, overtaking the previous peak net income of Sh615.8 million in 2011.
At the time, TPS said its portfolio of 22 hotels, resorts, safari lodges, and camps within the Eastern Africa region, regained its footing, supported by a return of confidence in the foreign leisure and corporate market segments.
The move comes at a time when a new report shows that international tourist arrivals and the travel and tourism sector’s contribution to global GDP are expected to return to pre-pandemic levels this year.
The move the report cites has been driven by the lifting of COVID-19-related travel restrictions and strong pent-up demand.
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