ROLLING UP ITS SLEEVES
It’s a grande dame of South African tourism, and now this luxury resort in North West has made history by becoming the country’s first hospitality industry vaccination site. Jabs began at its convention centre last Saturday and continued through the week.
Acting minister of health Mmamoloko Kubayi was scheduled to visit the site and get her own jab there this past Thursday.
The goal is to vaccinate 7,500 people in phases, starting with staff, service providers and concessionaires, then their family members, then those working at hospitality establishments in the area.
Finally, the drive will target people from the surrounding area.
Says general manager Brett Hoppe: “We obviously want to protect our staff, but it is equally important to us to ensure that people living in our local communities are looked after and are safe.”
The popular Sun International resort has approval to operate as a vaccination site until December, but says it aims to complete the programme within two months.
“We will have 15 vaccinators on site, who can each vaccinate 50 people per day,” said Hoppe, who added that the facility was accustomed to hosting events of significant magnitude — such as the Nedbank Golf Challenge — and so “we are confident that the preparations for our vaccination site will be seamless”.
The resort, developed by magnate Sol Kerzner and opened in 1979, shut down temporarily in late June due to SA’s move to lockdown level 4. With the move back to level 3 this week, most of the property — including the Soho and Cascades hotels — reopened on Thursday. The Palace is set to reopen mid-August.
Meanwhile, Fedhasa, the national trade association for the hospitality industry, this week welcomed the news that vaccinations were picking up across the country, saying this was vital for the recovery of an industry that has been “brought to its knees”.
National chair Rosemary Anderson said vaccinations would not only help to prevent SA “from rolling from one wave to the other”, but were also a key consideration among inbound international travellers.
“Until we reach the point where adults in SA are vaccinated in substantial numbers, our sector will continue to be impacted by surges and low demand … We call on South Africans to roll up their sleeves and get their #jab4tourism so we can begin to rebuild and create the many thousands of jobs that hospitality and tourism are capable of doing.”
To stand a chance of winning R500, tell us the name of the resort that just became SA’s first hospitality-industry vaccination site. E-mail travelquiz@sundaytimes.co.za before noon on Tuesday August 3. Last week’s winner is Gomotsang Palweni. The correct answer was Nad Al Sheba.