Elephant Hills set for refurbishment
The African Sun-owned Elephant Hills Resort and Conference Centre is set for refurbishment as part of the group’s broader strategy to upscale the state of its hotel properties following the successful completion of the US$4,2 million first phase to spruce up Hwange Safari Lodge.
The hospitality group set aside substantial amounts for the refurbishment of its hotels across the country over the next two years.
The project is set to upgrade the facilities to world-class standards with some of the funds sourced from borrowings.
With ten hotels across the country, ASL became the first hospitality group to list on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange (VFEX) this year, as the group seeks to widen its capital base to finance equity and capital projects.
“In line with our vision to deliver value to guests, we remain focused on our strategy to upscale the state of our hotel properties through our on-going refurbishment programmes. The first phase — US$4,2 million Hwange Safari Lodge (HSL) 100 rooms’ refurbishment is now complete,” the company said in a trading update for the third quarter ended September 30.
Victoria Falls stock exchange
“We are now shifting our focus to the second phase of the HSL refurbishment, which seeks to deliver spruced-up public areas before we commence the eagerly anticipated Elephant Hills Resort and Conference Centre refurbishment.”
Elephants Hills boasts of an 18-hole championship golf course designed by the legendary Gary Player, the only golf course in Victoria Falls.
The hotel is a reputable conference venue and has successfully hosted global conferences such as CHOGM, the Solar Summit in the 90s, the 20th Session of the UNWTO Assembly in 2013, Routes Africa and the 34th Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Summit in 2014.
The resort has eight conference rooms with seating capacities ranging from 14 to 500 delegates.
According to the financial update, at US$14,6 million, revenue for the third quarter, it increased by 12 percent relative to the same period in 2022, largely due to firmer Average daily room rate (ADR) spurred by higher demand from the Meetings, Incentives Conferences and Events (“MICE”) from the just ended August election business.
For the quarter under review, domestic business generated 65 percent of revenue while international business was 35 percent.
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“Of the domestic business, 55 percent and 45 percent thereof was generated in USD and ZWL respectively. On an aggregate basis, 71 percent of the revenue was generated in USD, reflecting an underlying economy that is gravitating towards the USD.
“On a year-to-date basis, the Group earned 65 percent of the revenue in USD. Strong domestic business and the steadily recovering international arrivals contributed to the improved Group performance for the period.”
In the period under review, the Group achieved revenue of US$37 million, 13 percent ahead of the comparative period.
The improving year-to-date revenue performance is driven by an ADR growth of 21 percent, and a three percentage points increase in occupancy from 45 percent in 2022 to close 2023 at 48 percent.
It added that the hotel segment’s year-to-date occupancy for the nine months to 30 September, at 48 percent, is equal to the occupancy achieved for the full year in 2019 and the business is well on its way to a full recovery to pre-pandemic levels.
The report noted that the Group remains debt-free, representing opportunities for financial leveraging opportunities in the months ahead.
“The cash generating capacity of the business remains strong and has been able to finance the on-going hotel refurbishment initiatives from internally generated cashflows.”
The hotel group said in view of the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer scenarios for 2023, which anticipate international tourist arrivals to reach 80 to 95 percent of pre-pandemic levels, it expects the recovery of international arrivals from traditional source markets to continue. —-chronicle
