Harare – Hotelier, African Sun Limited said the remaining trading period falls into the Group’s peak trading season.

Group Chairman, Alex Makamure said the company expects conferencing and international market business to drive performance.

“The Victoria Falls properties should continue to experience growth in foreign arrivals. The overall election environment was generally peaceful, albeit there were isolated incidences of violence which resulted in some cancellations/deferment of a number of bookings particularly for the city hotels.”

Makamure pointed out that despite the mild challenges the Group is optimistic of the second half of the year.

“We are confident that we will recover from the lost business in the remaining part of the year as our confirmed bookings are already higher than the same period last year for most of our hotels.

“Various infrastructure projects around the country, including the upgrading of Robert Mugabe International Airport, the Beitbridge to Chirundu road rehabilitation and Beitbridge border post development will bring business opportunities to the Group,” he said.

He added that management will therefore continuously focus on revenue generation and cost reduction initiatives to navigate the current challenging business environment, leveraging the Group’s international brands and their respective loyalty programmes.

“To compliment these initiatives and in the anticipation of increased occupancy in the future, we have rolled out a refurbishment programme to bring our hotels to regional and international standards. To this end, the company is set to spend $2.1 million in the last quarter of 2018 in refurbishments.”

African Sun Limited, is a Zimbabwe based hospitality Management Company established in 1968.

It operates in the hospitality and leisure industry through a number of hotels, resorts, casinos and timeshare operations throughout Zimbabwe and South Africa.

 It is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the Zimbabwe Industrial Index.

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