from DANIEL JONES in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
VICTORIA FALLS, (CAJ News) – HILTON Hotels could be expanding to Zimbabwe after reportedly partnering a local investor to build a luxurious hotel in Victoria Falls.
The American multinational hospitality group is understood to have entered a partnership with Lamcent Capital to build a 120-room upmarket facility in the globally-popular Zimbabwean destination.
Paperwork has been done for the project, apparently for the hotel to be on the edge of the mighty Zambezi River.
Ronnie Dube, Victoria Falls City Council town clerk, confirmed the development.
The council provided land as a partner to the deal, said to be around US$50 million.
Coincidentally, the hotel, if the stand number obtained is anything to go by, will be located next to the four-star Palm River Hotel that was opened in December 2021.
While the partners in the deal have not publicly confirmed the involvement of Hilton, the cat is out of the bag.
An internal source said the multinational group has completed the paperwork to manage the new hotel.
Lamcent Capital’s Lameck Tarupiwa said the deal was at a non-disclosure stage.
“We are currently not releasing details as some of the processes are still under nondisclosure agreements but we will be signing final agreements soon and make an announcement,” he said.
This will be the first mega start-up hotel to be built in Victoria Falls in years.
Several other high-end facilities have been built lately but mostly expansion projects.
The $24 million Palm River Lodge, commissioned last year, is an expansion scheme for Spencer’s Creek Group’s Ilala Lodge in partnership with Old Mutual. It has 73 rooms.
Nkosi Guest Lodge, with 24 executive rooms, is a Bayete Collection and an expansion of Phezulu Guest Lodge.
The Zambezi Boutique, built for $900 000, as well as Mbano Manor Hotel, with 18 standard suites and one presidential suite, were all built at a cost of $8 million.
The investments come as Zimbabwe aims to address a shortage of more than 2 000 rooms.
There are more than 5 000 rooms countrywide and more than 2 000 are in Victoria Falls.
Addressing the backlog will be key in Zimbabwe’s tourism recovery and growth strategy aimed at turning the sector into a $5 billion industry by 2030.
– CAJ News