The Industrial Development Corporation- (IDC-) backed hospitality company The Capital Hotel Group has launched a new R270-million hotel development in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape, as South Africa’s tourism sector continues its post-pandemic recovery, supported by rising international arrivals and growing regional investment.
The development will have access to the Boardwalk casino, in Gqeberha, as well as a beachfront and a shopping centre, providing tourists with experience of the Eastern Cape’s revered hospitality industry.
For Capital Hotel Group, this marks the company’s twelfth investment of this nature in the country and the IDC’s second funded project, with the first being The Capital Mbombela, in Mpumalanga, launched in 2021.
South Africa’s tourism sector is succeeding with a record 10.5-million international visitors in 2025, marking a 17.7% increase from 2024 numbers, surpassing a high which was last recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Travellers from African countries accounted for the majority of international arrivals to the country, in the process sustaining thousands of jobs in several communities spread across the country.
Importantly for the IDC, this project affirms the corporation’s growing support to the tourism sector as a priority, forward-looking, high-growth investment sector with related investments aligned to national tourism and regional development objectives.
Capital Hotels, Apartments and Resorts CEO Marc Wachsberger has commended the IDC for supporting this project, saying the partnership between the IDC and Capital Hotel Group has created more than 200 jobs in a region that is faced with massive unemployment.
“Gqeberha being the economic capital of the Eastern Cape province is driven by a myriad of industries spanning manufacturing, seaport activity and education, among other factors.
“The marine and seaport economy has transformed the city into a major manufacturing hub catapulted by the Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ). Among others, the city boasts the R11-billion Chinese State-owned automaker BAIC vehicle assembly plant as well as pharmaceutical company Aspen’s manufacturing plant which has become one of the largest manufacturing hubs for general anaesthetics in the world,” he says.
Tourism contributes about 9% to South Africa’s GDP and supports about 1.8-million local direct and indirect jobs.
As a key institution mandated to support industrial development and job creation, the IDC thanked Capital Hotel and Apartments for choosing to invest in some of the country’s outlying regions.
“Tourism supports more than 948 000 jobs in the country and contributes significantly to local GDP. This sector is critical to growing our economy and creating employment opportunities,” says IDC services head Kagisho Bapela.
He notes that Gqeberha has all the rudiments to become one of South Africa’s critical economic coastal hubs, adding that this new development enhances the city’s accommodation offering while also strengthening its ability to attract high-value leisure travellers.
FURTHER AFIELD
Following the launch of this project, KwaZulu-Natal-based and IDC-funded global hospitality group Club Med SA is expected to open its doors to the public in July.
As the biggest resort ever built in South Africa after Sun City in the North West province, Club Med is expected to contribute to KwaZulu-Natal’s economic development.
Lumkile Nkomfe
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