The AFCON has kept all of us at the edges of our seats over the past couple of weeks, and every football lover across Africa will miss the excitement and tension now that the tournament is over.
Hosting the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) is a big dream for most African nations because it heralds significant economic, cultural, and political benefits. Real estate ranks highly among sectors of a country that can benefit from hosting the AFCON. If you are wondering how read on as we unpack it in this blog.
Before we proceed, let’s throw in this tiny piece of information to help you shake off the gloom you might feel due to our loss to Ivory Coast at the finals. Did you know Nigeria has lifted the AFCON trophy three times since its inception? Not that we’re encouraging Nigerians to bask in past glories, but this is a feat that you should be proud of as a Nigerian.
Now, back to the heart of the matter, let us examine some of the potential benefits for a country’s real estate sector when it hosts Africa’s biggest football tournament, AFCON.
Boom in Hotel Bookings
Hosting AFCON is always a big hit for the real estate sector, especially for hoteliers. The host country is saddled with the responsibility of making every participating nation and their team feel welcomed and comfortable, therefore, so much effort goes into hotel accommodation. Luxury is usually not compromised here, because a certain standard must be met, which has been set by CAF. In return, building luxurious hotels for the hosting purposes of AFCON helps to generate loads of income not only for hotel owners but also for the country at large.
Surge in Shortlet Bookings
Just think of the many previously underutilized shortlets that will now be in use and the new ones that will spring up to accommodate foreigners all across a host nation. This amounts to a lot of revenue generated within a short period through shortlet bookings. The coolest part of it all is that these short lets (and hotels) will continue to attract people from across the world long after AFCON due to the exposure the country must have garnered.
Revival of Resorts
We all love to see the world, and football has a great hand in that. A country that decides to host the AFCON tournament, just like Ivory Coast, is positioning itself to showcase its culture and tourism to the world, including its resorts. Many resorts will be revived to host foreigners, locals/indigenes will serve as tourist guards, and history will find its relevance again as ancient stories will be used to entertain travellers who would love to tour the country. There is also the prospect of real estate investors falling in love with the country’s real estate sector and building a new resort altogether as a tourist attraction.
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Accelerated Development in Real Estate
It is widely considered that football brings people together, and development is guaranteed to be faster when people come together for a common goal, it almost works like magic! Therefore, a very effective way to enhance real estate development in a nation would be to host the AFCON tournament, which will bring the interests of various stakeholders and nations together.
Furthermore, AFCON being a global event accelerates development and focuses the eyes of the world on its host. For example, the current host of AFCON2023 Ivory Coast has spent an estimated US$1 billion on roads, stadiums, hospitals, and other infrastructure for the tournament just within the space of three years. In an investment that has in turn accelerated the real estate game in Ivory Coast, dilapidated hotels have been reconstructed and new ones built to accommodate foreigners coming into the country to enjoy the tournament. We do not doubt that real estate developers, agents, and realtors in Ivory Coast will all be smiling to the banks because of AFCON 2023. This sort of accelerated development could be beneficial to any nation’s real estate if it decides to host the AFCON.
There are so many other benefits that the real estate sector of an AFCON hosting nation could enjoy, a few of them may include; pressure on developers to build quality structures that can withstand the test of time, accelerated real estate policies by the government to meet up with the AFCON schedule, thereby removing any bottlenecks/delays in registration processes for real estate companies, massive employment in the real estate sector; and so many other benefits. The likes of South Africa, Egypt, Ivory Coast, and Nigeria have improved their real estate sectors in significant ways simply by hosting AFCON in the past, and perhaps it’s time for Nigeria to host it again soon so we can experience accelerated growth in our real estate sector. In addition, despite Morocco and Kenya having one of the best real estate reputations in Africa already, both countries will be hosting the 2025 and 2027 AFCON tournaments, respectively. This presents them with another opportunity to further improve the real estate sectors in their countries, a step that Nigeria can follow to benefit her real estate sector.
In conclusion, as they say; “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.” For Nigeria and other African nation’s real estate, the next step could be hosting the AFCON.
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