African Sun’s Caribbea Bay gears for major recovery

Providing the best views of the great Lake Kariba, and during the night displaying scenes that, in a way, resemble the picturesque Caribbean Islands — Caribbea Bay Resort — one of the 11 properties owned by African Sun (Private) Limited a subsidiary of African Sun Limited, is among a few hotels in the country that have absorbed Covid-19 shocks and are on road to recovery.

Many tourism facilities in the town have curved in to the weight of the Covid-19 pandemic, but Caribbea Bay Resort has since emerged stronger, having completed massive refurbishments that have transformed all its facilities from rooms, the gym and its environs.

The General Manager, Mrs Phylis Sambo-Chiririwa, admits things have not been rosy, but thanks to the strategic vision of the Group, the hotel was now walking past the negative impact of Covid-19, and business was beginning to pick up as witnessed by volumes from locals now patronising the facility.

She applauded support of the Government through numerous strategic workshops mainly conducted at the facility because of its capacity to handle high profile events, leisure tourists and special interest groups.

“Before Covid-19 business was doing very well, but like everyone else, the hospitality and tourism sector has been seriously affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Caribbea Bay Resort reopened in August (2020), after the very first lockdown, and from September 2020 business was beginning to pick up, but then it was affected by the second lockdown which took place in January and February 2021.

“This then affected our cumulative occupancy figures for the year to date but we are looking to recover in the next quarter.

“We have witnessed an increase in volumes, especially from Government, Quasi-Government, Non-Governmental Organisations, (NGOs) corporates and the leisure market.

“There are a lot of strategic workshops that are going on and so we are positive that the business will continue to improve.

“We appreciate that borders are still closed but for Caribbea Bay Resort, our business is almost wholly local and we are hoping to take advantage of that,” Mrs Sambo-Chiririwa said.

“We constantly run promotions and during the public holidays with affordable packages for the domestic market.

“The Resort is also very active on social media and we appreciate the world has gone digital and hence we are taking advantage of social media to communicate with our customers..

“We are on Facebook, Instagram, and tweeter. We offer weekend specials for families, individuals and groups. The destination Kariba has been benefiting from the #ZimBhoo campaign launched by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), to promote domestic tourism.

“African Sun Limited as a group is running the Rediscover Zimbabwe Campaign covering all its 11 hotels. The campaign is aimed at encouraging Zimbabweans to visit the various tourist destinations in the country”.

About Caribbea Bay Resort

The hotel has 83 rooms, comprising 41 casitas, 35 deluxe rooms and seven suites. In terms of restaurants and bars, there is the tennis spacio restaurant that offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and a sitting capacity of 110 guests.

“We are also taking cognisant of the fact that we are in the new normal with the Covid-19 pandemic so we had to adjust our capacity to adhere to Covid-19 protocols.

“In terms of leisure and sporting activities, the hotel has two swimming pools — the casita pool, which is more private and the round bar pool opposite our popular round bar.

“We have the children’s playground- with two play grounds — the super waterslide, which is very popular with the kids.

“In terms of our conferencing capacity, we have four conference and banqueting facilities with four conference rooms — the Masaisai with a sitting capacity of 80 pax, Kariwa conference room, 100 pax, Pedro conference room 25 pax, we also have a boardroom with 10 pax.

“It is important to note that we have also held some events for 800 people in our open grounds where we can pitch up a tent and accommodate bigger crowds.

“In terms of the campsites there were starting to get popular just before the Covid-19 pandemic with overlanders when the international and regional markets were open” Mrs Sambio-Chiririwa said.

Caribbea Bay Campsites have 35 tents that can accommodate up to 70 pax. This camping facility offers “glamping” experience that is camping in a glamorous way with hotel facilities available to the Campers. The Camps are specifically targeted at budget groups and people who love camping.

Such groups include couples, churches, students from learning institutions, overlanders etc. The camping compound has barbeque facilities for groups where they can have their braais.

The campsites have a facility where people can do self-serving laundry. Such camping facilities are also available at Great Zimbabwe Hotel, near the Great Zimbabwe National Monuments in Masvingo with a capacity of 40 tents that accommodate up to 80 pax.”

Renovations

Caribbea Bay Resort recently fully refurbished all the 83 rooms and are now offering unmatched experience to all our guests.

“The rooms now have a new look, feel and enhanced lighting. We appreciate that most of our business is conferencing and people need to work later on in the evening and so we have improved the room lighting. We have improved the bath and shower experience to cater for the contemporary traveller.

“Now that the refurbishment of the rooms is now complete , the next move is to improve the public areas, where we are going to enhance the arrival and check in experience. The reception area will be done so that guests will check — in facing Lake Kariba. In addition our conference rooms, and the restaurants will be enhanced as part of the second phase of the refurbishment” she said.

Roads to Kariba

As much as people prefer to travel to Kariba by road, air access is important. The road leading to Kariba, especially Harare to Chirundu needs attention. However, Mrs Sambo-Chiririwa is optimistic that the travelling experience will be enhanced as efforts are being made by the Government to repair and resurface the road.

“ We appreciate the efforts that are being made by the Government through Ministry of Transport (and Infrastructural Development) in resurfacing the road from Makuti to Kariba, the road is in good condition” she said.-herald.cl.zw