Listed hotelier African Sun Limited posted improved volumes during the first three months of the year, but management expects performance to wane for the second quarter going forward due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a trading update, the group said occupancy for the first quarter closed at 40% representing a 2 percentage points increase from 38% recorded in the same quarter in 2019.

“The recovery from Q1 of 2019 was largely due to a stable operating environment in contrast to the comparable quarter last year which had civil unrest and national shutdown protests,” explained management.

The Group’s room nights sold increased by 4% from 52,617 reported in the comparable quarter last year to 54,972 this year.

Business mix for the first quarter with regards to room nights was 67% local and 33% export.

“But export room nights reduced by 2% due to the early effects of Covid-19 which affected arrivals particularly in our Victoria Falls properties,” said the Group.

“Domestic room nights increased by 8%, a growth that was driven by corporate and NGO (non-governmantal organizations) business.”

African Sun’s Q2 will certainly be hit hard by the pandemic as volumes declined during the initial phases of the lockdown in Zimbabwe, which was implemented from March 30.

“As of 6 May 2020, our statistics
have shown that we have had 31 907 room nights cancelled, being quite substantial for the business…Under Level Two, in line with the relaxation of the lockdown measures, the Group took a decision to reopen its hotels on a phased approach.

“Under phase one, four (4) hotels being (Holiday Inn Harare, Holiday Inn Mutare, Holiday Inn Bulawayo and Great Zimbabwe Hotel) were reopened on 11 May 2020.”

Going forward, the group expects to benefit from the local Covid-19 response by both Government and NGOs.

“The Group expects domestic business largely driven by government and non-governmental organizations programmes centered on COVID-19 health responses and hunger alleviation to resume immediately,” said African Sun.

“Taking into account the global trends, management expects international business to gradually resume starting from July as airlines rebuild their networks.”