Dawn Properties Limited; Company Secretary; Markus de Klerk says the reopening of the tourism sector by the government of Zimbabwe has already started yielding positive results.
Zimbabwe reopened the tourism sector in September after five months of closure due to COVID-19.
De Klerk says, “As at 1 October 2020, all the African Sun run hotels are back in operation and occupancies are steadily increasing.
“In the short to medium term, tourism recovery in Zimbabwe is anticipated to be driven by domestic tourism.”
Dawn Properties recorded lower revenue and reduced occupancy in the hotel businesses in the trading update for the third quarter and nine months ended 30 September 2020.
“Hotel revenue for the nine months ended 30 September 2020, at ZWL65.3 million, was 54% lower than the revenue achieved during the same period last year. This was mainly due to depressed occupancies as a result of strict lockdowns imposed by the government during the second quarter in response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” de Klerk says.
“Year to date average occupancies as at 30 September 2020 stood at 16% compared to 41% achieved during the same period in prior year.”
Zimbabwe’s tourism sector is estimated to lose between US$0.5 – $1 billion in revenue this year due to lockdowns that have been experienced around the world according to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).
De Klerk also states that Zimbabwe’s operating environment remains volatile and uncertain.
“The Zimbabwean economy is however expected to shrink from last year level, with the Ministry of Finance and the International Monetary Fund projecting that the Gross Domestic Product growth rate for the full year 2020 will be negative 4.5% and 10.4% respectively,” he says.
