admin
Thupeyo Muleya Beitbridge Bureau
The Rainbow Tourism Group closed its loss-making Rainbow Beitbridge Hotel with effect from Tuesday.
The 136-room hotel has been incurring losses over the past two years amounting to $2 million, forcing the company to close shop in the border town. The closure comes five months after African Sun closed its Beitbridge Express Hotel due to an accrued loss of $507 910 for the past two years.
In a statement yesterday, the RTG board of directors said it arrived at the decision to scale down operations following several consultations.
“Market factors characterised by depressed occupancies, low margins as well as high operating costs were the major contributing factors for exiting Beitbridge.
“Operational costs at the hotel were no longer sustainable and since we opened in January 2014, the hotel has incurred losses amounting to more than $2 million,” said the board.
The organisation also said latest projections pointed to a declining market and demand and that the hotel would incur more losses into the foreseeable future.
Under the new arrangement, RTG will deploy permanent staff to some of its six branches in the country.
The members of staff who were on contracts will be laid off.
The state-of-the-art hotel, which has four conference rooms, two bars, a casino, a gymnasium also houses National Social Security Authority offices and two commercial banks.
It employed 50 people. The hotel is one of the 14 accommodation facilities in the border town.
Beitbridge town secretary, Mr Loud Ramakgapola said the closure of the hotel was disappointing.
“This is disappointing for the town as we took the RTG Hotel as one of the pillars of attractiveness of the town.
“It was a source of pride for us and it was an investment we valued and rated highly. I am devastated particularly as this development comes after the closure of Beitbridge Express Hotel a few months ago,” he said.
Beitbridge Business Association chairperson Mr Nkululeko Milidi said the closure of two major hotels was a big blow to the town’s tourism industry and efforts to create employment.
“This is a blow to the town’s economic development considering that these facilities were being used to host major national and regional events. In essence, the town has been downgraded. We will lose a lot in terms of tourism opportunities,” he said.
Online Reporter