CAPE TOWN Most of the world's top hotel management groups are represented in SA but, with a couple of exceptions, they have only one or two outlets in the country.

This appears to contradict the country's strong growth in tourist numbers in the past decade, and stronger profits from local hotel and casino groups such as City Lodge, Sun International, Gold Reef Casino Resorts and Peermont Global.

Probably the best-known and longest-established international brand in SA is Holiday Inn, which has been operated under licence by Southern Sun Hotels since 1985. Southern Sun is the world's largest Holiday Inn franchisee . Southern Sun also operates other brands from Holiday Inn's parent, InterContinental Hotels and Resorts, such as the Johannesburg International Airport InterContinental Airport Sun and the InterContinental Sandton Sun & Towers. It also operates 24 Formule1 hotels under licence from French hotel group Accor.

Horwath Tourism & Leisure Consulting director Joseph Aminzadeh says international hotel groups need to have two or three hotels in SA in the biggest cities, such as Johannesburg and Cape Town, but they need not be represented all over SA.

It is important to note that most international hotel groups are managers, not property owners, he says. After the oversupply of hotels that developed in the late 1990s, which caused hotel rates to dip, local property investors have steered away from hotels, making it difficult for multinational hotel management groups to find opportunities.

But Aminzadeh says demand for hotel accommodation is picking up, investors are more mature and interest in hotel developments is growing. Property owners are now making moves which will bring in the hotel management groups.

Even though the multinational hotel groups do not invest in bricks and mortar in SA, their presence is positive, he says. They train local staff and help to promote and profile the country in global markets.

Aside from InterContinental Group and Accor, the bestrepresented foreign hotel group is Relais & Chateaux, with 16 properties around SA including upmarket game lodges in Eastern and Western Cape and the Waterberg.

In the year to December the group reported that its growth in SA was 21% compared with negative growth in Switzerland, Canada, France, Belgium and Italy, and flat income in Germany, Austria, the UK and the US.

But the world's best-known luxury brands of hotels are thinly represented locally. Orient-Express Hotels runs the Mount Nelson in Cape Town and the Westcliff in Johannesburg. There are only two Hilton hotels in SA, one in Sandton and one in Durban, and one Hyatt Hotel, the Park Hyatt in Johannesburg. There are two Sheraton hotels in SA, both in Western Cape, and two Rezidor Hospitality hotels, a Radisson and a Park Inn, both in Cape Town.

Smaller groups such as NH Hotels, Warwick International and Century Casinos only have one operation each in SA. NH Hotels runs the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West, Warwick International runs a hotel near Muldersdrift in Gauteng, and Century Casinos manages the Caledon Casino, Hotel and Spa in Western Cape.

Kerzner International, the New York-listed group started by South African entrepreneur Sol Kerzner, which manages Paradise Island in the Bahamas, is also about to build its first property, a One&Only hotel, at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town. Because of its history, Kerzner International can be expected to understand the market better than most international groups.

The latest hotel occupancy statistics from Statistics SA show the trend in room occupancy rates stabilising at about 57% in the past two years, from about 53% in 1999-2000. The trend in total hotel income topped R600m in early 2004 from about R440m in 1999.