HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY: Gqeberha hotel refurbishment signals faith in city’s tourism potential

{JSON.stringify(article.attachments[0], null, 2)} --> A major refurbishment of the Courtyard Hotel forms part of City Lodge Hotels’ wider investment in its Gqeberha properties, while beachfront businesses are investing in infrastructure and security as they navigate the metro’s service and safety challenges.

City Lodge Hotels is investing in its Gqeberha portfolio as it bets on the metro’s tourism potential, with the refurbishment of the Courtyard Hotel in Summerstrand creating seven permanent jobs.

The investment comes as Nelson Mandela Bay grapples with rising unemployment, which climbed to 33.1% in the second quarter of 2026, from 29.8% in the previous quarter and 26.4% a year earlier.

About 183,000 people were unemployed in the metro during the period, while employment was 49,000 lower than a year earlier, according to Statistics South Africa’s latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey.

The situation was even worse across the Eastern Cape, where unemployment rose to 47.5% in the second quarter, up from 44.6% in the first quarter and 39.5% a year earlier. The province had 1.219 million people who were unemployed and actively looking for work.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber said in August that the figures showed the need for more investment, business growth and job creation.

For City Lodge, the refurbishment of the Courtyard is part of a broader investment in its Gqeberha portfolio and the region’s tourism offering. Two other Gqeberha properties, Road Lodge and Town Lodge, are also in the group’s refurbishment pipeline, with work expected to continue during the 2027 financial year.

The four-star seafront Courtyard Hotel Gqeberha, which opened in 2000, has undergone a redesign of its 91 rooms, restaurant, conferencing facilities, lobby and public areas.

Courtyard general manager Erich Oberhauser said the refurbishment had resulted in about seven new permanent positions.

While that number is small compared with the scale of unemployment in the metro, he said the investment reflected the company’s confidence in the local tourism and hospitality market.

“We believe that tourism is growing and there’s a lot of opportunity for tourism and hospitality in Gqeberha and therefore, it was time to reinvest in the property,” he said.

Oberhauser said the hotel industry was closely linked to the wider tourism sector and that working with other tourism businesses could help strengthen the destination and create jobs.

“There are a lot of opportunities for economic growth and job creation. I think work creation is vital,” he said.

He said international visitors also had a direct impact on employment, although he did not have the specific figures to hand.