Hospitality industry giant, Rainbow Tourism Group profit for the year ended December 2021 was 17 percent ahead of prior year driven by solid performance by the technological innovation, Gateway Stream and the group’s new tour operations division.
The group declared final dividend of ZW$ 0.06 per share.
In its full year (FY) financial results statement, the Group said Gateway Stream subscribers grew four-fold to 66 000 from 15 000 recorded prior year creating traction for the new revenue channel.
Group revenue was up 17 percent at ZWL$ 2.8 billion from ZWL$ 2.4 billion prior year despite having lost five trading months during the level 4 lockdowns.
“The 17% growth was positive when read together with the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s (UNWTO) 2021 report that global and Africa tourism increased by 4% and 12 %, respectively over prior year,” the group said.
The group continued to incur high cost of operations due to inflation which took a toll on gross margins with profit before tax dropping 54 percent to ZWL$ 249 million.
“The group closed the year with gross margin of 72% which was a 1 percentage point improvement from 71% achieved in 2020,” said the group.
Hotel business recorded a 29% growth in occupancies with major sources of business coming from the domestic market driven by city hotels.
The tour operations business, Heritage Expeditions Africa (HExA) grew into a significant player in the tour operations and adventure space in the country’s major resorts and business centres.
The Group utilised ZWL$ 92 million towards capital expenditure during the year which was spent on capacitating the new business units as well as the basic care and maintenance of the hotels.
Other capital projects have since commenced which includes upgrade and installation of a brand new guest elevator at New Ambassador Hotel in Harare and room refurbishment which will commence in the second half of the year.
At Rainbow Towers Hotel and Conference Centre, the group installed and commissioned a third elevator in March this year.
