COVER STORY | Sun City
Excitement as
Sun City
reopens for business One of the country’s biggest conference and incentive destinations, Sun City Resort, has reopened its doors on 2 September after more than 150 days of closure due to lockdown regulations. Business Events Africa was invited to Sun City to experience the re-opening safety protocols. The excitement and energy levels of the staff was tangible.
B
rett Hoppé, general manager of Sun City Resort shared some insights. Clearly passionate about his staff, he said they have come back re-energised. On the unforeseen closure, he said: “If you had said to me in January that in March we will shut down Sun City - a property which has traded 24/7, 365 days a year for the past 40 years - and not trade for 156 days, I would not have believed it. Mr Hoppé reflected on that time when he did site checks around the resort and saw the wildlife come out from the bushes and drink from the hotel pools. One evening they even had a leopard take a night-time stroll through the porte-cochère (covered entrance to a building) of the Soho Hotel, he said. The reality is that the tourism industry has been decimated by the Covid-19 lockdown. At this stage, the reopening is partial with initial hotel visitors mainly from the Johannesburg and Pretoria area and the Sun Vacation Club playing catch-up to accommodate member bookings. Mr Hoppé said challenges which remained were the lack of international inbound flights, seeing that 30 per cent of Sun City’s guests were international; restrictions on conferences - an important source of revenue for Sun City - and ensuring proper compliance with
all Covid-19 protocols. Sun City has now moved to a virtual hybrid studio of high quality to limit the capacity to 50 people at a time and instead host delegates via Sun Studio, a virtual studio. “We are not just observing the protocols for the sake of ticking a box, but we will execute the protocols and make sure they are adhered to. Once regulations are lifted we don’t foresee protocols falling away. We will maintain protocols to ensure the continuous safety of our customers.” Safety protocols have been taken very seriously with Mr Hoppé describing Sun City as a “bio-bubble” where, once inside, staff and guests could be secure in the knowledge they were in a safe space. “We are forever in a changed reality,” he said. “We have to make sure we are able to service and still apply the protocols.” From the time one arrives at the gate, pre-screening is done and there are temperature checks, sanitising stations and physical distancing applications at every facility across the site. In the restaurants, food safety is paramount; menus are disposable, cutlery is packaged, and buffets have been replaced with food covered and served in individual portions. Hotels and facilities at Sun City are being reopened in phases. For current information about what is open, visit the website.
6 Business Events Africa October 2020
Sable Fountain at The Palace of the Lost City.
Mankwe Gametrackers ready to serve.
www.businesseventsafrica.com
