Gqeberha hotel refurbishment signals faith in city’s tourism potential

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.

The work began in July 2025 and was completed in April 2026.

Seven jobs created through refurbishment

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.

“If you look at how many international visitors it takes to create direct employment, the number of visitors required is not that high,” he said.

Eastern Cape tourism still has room to grow

Andrea Anderson, general manager at City Lodge Hotels, said the Eastern Cape continued to receive less attention from travellers than established destinations such as the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

“The Eastern Cape as a whole is actually the best-kept secret,” said Anderson. “Everybody flocks to KZN and the Western Cape, and this is still quite an unspoiled province. And if we can get it on the map, I think we’re all going to be much better for it.

“I think collectively, every one of you that live in Gqeberha and us in Gauteng, need to punt this area and really get it off the ground. I think it has absolute untapped potential that we really need to tap into.”

While businesses, business clusters and neighbourhood forums continue to take the initiative in ensuring the beautification, upkeep and safety of the beachfront, Anderson said there was also an urgent need to rehabilitate Gqeberha’s CBD.

Oberhauser said that he has seen a great deal of improvement along the beachfront, resulting from collaboration with several stakeholders.

“I think the industry is very involved to create an environment where people do feel safe, that the area is cleaner. We know that there are a lot of challenges.

“The guys in the industry are not sitting back and accepting it, but they’re identifying where they can make a difference, and they get involved and they get it done. We need to take responsibility for where we are,” he said.

The challenges facing the metro – including problems with water and electricity infrastructure – have also prompted hotels and other beachfront businesses to invest in infrastructure to keep their operations running during disruptions to municipal services.

City Lodge already had a borehole and water-filtration plant serving its City Lodge and Town Lodge properties when the threat of “Day Zero” emerged.

The group has since added another borehole and water-filtration system serving its Courtyard and Road Lodge properties.

Its airport hotel has also installed additional water tanks, while all of its hotels have generators and solar panels.

Hotel restaurant targets local customers

City Lodge is also trying to attract more local customers to its food and beverage operations. The refurbished Courtyard restaurant has been renamed 25° East – headed up by sous chef Khanya Mshweshwe – as part of the group’s strategy of giving its restaurants distinct identities and attracting customers who are not staying at the hotel.

Trevor Boyd, operations general manager for food and beverage at City Lodge Hotels, said the group was moving away from treating its restaurants mainly as hotel amenities.

“We’re trying to separate the restaurant from the hotel, and we’re trying to create an identity for the restaurant,” he said.

“A lot of people have realised that normal guests that aren’t staying in a hotel are often intimidated by the hotel scenario.

“All of those things, we want to try to quell that and get that stigma away from the hotel restaurant,” Boyd added.

Boyd said the name 25° East came from the restaurant’s longitude, while its compass-inspired logo was based on a line tattoo he spotted during discussions about the restaurant’s identity. DM