LEADING hospitality concern, Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) has pinned hopes of recovery on the prevailing stable economic environment after registering a paltry 1% growth owing to the adverse impact of the Covid19 pandemic.
Presenting a trading update for the period ended September 30, 2021, the RTG company secretary, Tapiwa Mari said the stable economic environment will be the backbone for recovery going forward.
“The group remains optimistic about the prospects of the tourism industry in the short to medium term. The stability in the operating environment is a positive development that will translate into increased activities.
“We managed to access foreign currency through the auction system, thereby easing the burdens on some of its foreign currency requirements,” he said.
The remarks come against a backdrop where the government has enacted a raft of economic measures including the introduction of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) foreign exchange auction platform which has become the largest source of foreign currency for companies and eased off pressure on the parallel market.
Despite the residual economic challenges, the measures have gone a long way to reduce year on year inflation from a high of 800% to 54,5% in less than two years.
During the RTG review period, occupancies for the hotels division closed at 24 %, a percentage point improvement from prior year occupancies of 23 %.
The performance in the aftermath of the relaxation of the lockdown measures has positioned the group onto a recovery trajectory amid optimism that resumption of international airlines such as British Airways and Victoria Falls with Qatar Airways coming into Harare for the first time will also spur the sector’s growth.
Occupancies for the hotels divisions continued to act as a critical anchor to the business during the Covid19 period with the Gateway Stream mobile application’s various channels experiencing increased volumes during the third quarter compared to all other quarters during the year.
“Notable performance was recorded under Gateway Stream rooms which sold equivalent to 30% of the total RTG hotel rooms not owned by RTG which sold rooms equivalent to 30% of the total RTG rooms sold during the third quarter of 2021,” said Mari.
Other channels on the application such as groceries, music hardware have continued to record significantly increased volumes.
Occupancies for the hotels division closed at 24%, a percentage point improvement from prior year occupancies of 23%.
Source: Newzim
