Some of Ghana’s larger accommodation businesses were operating with most of their rooms occupied between November 2024 and February 2025, while establishments with only slightly fewer rooms struggled to fill even one in 10 rooms.
Establishments with 100 rooms or more recorded room occupancy of between 83% and 86% during the four-month period, according to data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS).
But establishments with 90 to 99 rooms recorded room occupancy of just 10.2% in February 2025.
The difference means that while some operators were selling most of their available rooms, others were leaving a large share of their capacity unused during the same period.
The figures form part of the first four months of the GSS Accommodation Unit Survey, covering November 2024 to February 2025. The survey is being conducted over 12 months, from November 2024 to October 2025.
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The uneven performance extends beyond establishment size.
Hostels recorded room occupancy of about 91% to 95% during the period, while standard hostels recorded occupancy of about 96% to 99%.
By comparison, 1-star hotels recorded room occupancy of 28% in February 2025.
At the national level, room occupancy reached 46.6% in December 2024, the highest reported during the four months. Occupied rooms increased from 2.25 million in November to 2.42 million in December, before falling to 2.30 million in January and 2.10 million in February.
Available room capacity remained between 5.0 million and 5.2 million room-days from November through January, before declining to 4.69 million in February.
That gap between available and occupied rooms points to a market in which a substantial amount of accommodation capacity was not being used.
Domestic travellers dominate
The survey also shows that the market is heavily dependent on domestic guests.
Domestic guests ranged from about 1.87 million to 2.17 million each month between November 2024 and February 2025, compared with fewer than 40,000 foreign guests per month.
Hostels recorded the highest number of domestic guests, reaching 934,157 in January 2025.
Hotels, however, recorded the largest number of foreign guests, with 34,144 foreign guests in November 2024.
Foreign hotel guests generally stayed longer, averaging about three to four nights, compared with about two nights for domestic hotel guests.
Location makes a difference
Accommodation performance also varied significantly by region.
Greater Accra had the largest available room capacity and the largest number of occupied rooms during the period.
But some smaller markets recorded higher utilisation. Savannah Region, for example, recorded 63.7% room occupancy in January 2025, while Central Region maintained bed occupancy above 70% during the four months.
Eastern, Bono East and Volta regions recorded room occupancy below 28% throughout the period.
Revenue also fell
The uneven occupancy picture came as national accommodation revenue performance weakened towards January.
Revenue per Available Room, or RevPAR, fell from GH¢603 in November 2024 to GH¢490 in January 2025, before recovering to GH¢524 in February.
Average Daily Rate, or ADR, also fell from GH¢1,351 in November to GH¢1,112 in January, before increasing in February.
For businesses with low occupancy, the challenge is therefore not simply having rooms available but generating enough demand to turn that capacity into revenue.
The GSS cautioned that the results cover only the first four months of the 12-month survey and should be treated as an emerging baseline rather than evidence of a long-term trend.
The survey covers hotels, guest houses, budget hotels, homestays, hostels and serviced apartments, including both licensed and unlicensed establishments.
