As Media Partner of FHS Africa, Breaking Travel News sat down with a number of key delegates to hear their perspective on the market and where it is heading next. In this interview, we speak to Rose Diaz, Global Director, Commercial & Real Estate Capital Markets at Maison 71, the Abu Dhabi-headquartered global real estate and commercial advisory firm, to discuss investor sentiment, hospitality-led development, and the long-term opportunity across Africa.. What has stood out most to you at FHS Africa so far, and what does it say about the mood of the market?. What stands out most is the shift in the quality of the conversation.. For many years Africa’s hospitality narrative was framed around potential. What we are hearing now is a far more mature dialogue around capital structures, operational platforms, destination development and long term land value.. There is also a growing recognition that nature itself carries economic value and an undeniable global appeal. In an article I wrote last year I explored this idea in a global context, from Patagonia to the Scottish Highlands. Yet Africa holds some of the world’s most extraordinary natural assets, from wildlife corridors to coastlines and biodiversity ecosystems that simply cannot be replicated elsewhere.. ADVERTISEMENT. Hospitality, when structured intelligently, can become the commercial layer that allows those landscapes to generate economic value while protecting them. It creates a model in which conservation, tourism and community development reinforce one another rather than compete.. This thinking is increasingly relevant as natural capital markets begin to take shape globally. The voluntary carbon market alone is projected to exceed fifty billion dollars annually by 2030, while biodiversity credits, water markets and other ecosystem service mechanisms are evolving alongside it.. As these markets mature, hospitality may become one of the most practical ways to connect investors, communities and travellers within a shared economic and environmental framework.. When you look at Africa today, do you see one market, or a collection of very different opportunities that investors need to understand market by market?. It is very clearly a collection of distinct markets.. Africa cannot be approached as a single investment thesis. Each country operates with its own regulatory frameworks, infrastructure realities and demand drivers.. Investors who succeed here tend to approach the continent with a high degree of nuance. They understand the specific dynamics of individual markets and build partnerships locally.. In that sense Africa behaves much more like Europe or Asia than many outsiders initially assume. It is a network of very different investment environments rather than a single homogeneous market.. What are the biggest misconceptions international investors still have about Africa’s hospitality and real estate story?. One misconception is that risk in Africa is primarily structural or con
