Youth Games boost hotel business
Keikantse Lesemela | Wednesday May 28, 2014 14:40
The hospitality industry is one of the major sectors benefiting from the games because of the 8,000 visitors who have come to the capital city for the duration of the event.
The 2,500 athletes are accommodated at the University of Botswana (UB) hostels while the rest are booked in hotels. At the end of the Games, the organising committee will have spent P80 million, on top of what the visitors are bringing in foreign currencies.
Falcon Crest front desk manager, Otsile Otsile said they have a good business boost from the visitors, as their eight rooms are fully booked for the two weeks duration.
“We are a small organisation but we have been chosen to provide services for the visitors. We are fully booked for two weeks there is no free space for regular customers,” said Otsile.
He said although Falcon Crest is a small lodge they are well prepared to provide high quality service to the visitors. “We are a small organisation and we were not prepared to accommodate this number of people for this long time.
They booked at the last minute but we are well prepared to offer the best hospitality services.”
The four star, Gaborone Sun hotel has entered into partnership with Botswana Africa Youth Games Organising Committee (BAYGOC) and will also be offering accommodation sponsorship.
Another establishment that long planned to receive the visitors is Cresta Lodge.
“There has been influx of customers from these games and we have to lose some of our regular customers because we are fully booked for two weeks,” said the marketing manager who refused to be named. He said three quarters of the 160 rooms are fully occupied by people from the games only.
Gaborone Hotel said their 44 rooms are fully booked for two weeks. The premier hotel’s general manager, Kenneth Setlhong said they have experienced high occupancy rate. “Almost all our rooms are fully occupied by these visitors and they are going to be there for two weeks.