One of the country’s iconic and flamboyant holiday spots, Leopard Rock Hotel -located in Vumba could be re-opened earlier than initially thought following a hint by management that the facility could be open in December.
The hotel closed its doors in March at the beginning of Covid-19 lockdown and in August it announced that it was reopening next year subject to a more realistic revision of health regulations by the authorities.
“Stay tuned — Leopard Rock hopes to open by December,” said the hotel on its official Facebook page.
The hotel was initially expected to reopen in August when most hotels across the country were gradually getting back to business in phases to contain the spread of the pandemic but stringent regulatory requirements frustrated the exercise.
“We have not met the Health Department’s standards of COVID safety. As a result, we will not be moving forward with our reopening strategy. We will await a realistic revision of the regulations or a change in circumstances to reopen the hotel to the public. We strongly suspect we will only be able to reopen in 2021,” the hotel said then.
Part of the requirements the hotel failed to meet as per Health Department are, “Hand Paper towel machine/rail in public facilities (we have individual hand towels, Spare Batteries For Infrared Thermometer (never mind that we have two spare thermometers), Handwashing plastic containers with a tap X 8 for all entrance points (Includes club house) — I certainly wouldn’t wash my hands with these, Work suits (2 pairs specific for disinfecting), Overall (2 Pairs), Tyvek suit ( x 2), Face shield (x 2) goes along with the Tyvek suit and Bin liners – small for each bin in each room,” wrote the hotel management.
But with the hotel expecting to reopen in December, the development comes as a major boost to Manicaland tourism which has been struggling to recover from lost business during the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.
