RTG weathers COVID-19 storm…as pandemic grounds travel, shuts down hotels

ZIMBABWE Stock Exchange (ZSE)-listed leisure chain, Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) weathered the COVID-19-induced storm during the year ended December 31, 2020, posting an inflation-adjusted $352 million post-tax profit.

This was a 61,5% slowdown from the $914 million reported in 2019, but far ahead of most analyst predictions that warned of a bloodbath after the pandemic forced the shutdown of hotels to prevent contagion as the invasive virus grounded the global economy.

The African Development Bank said last week that tourism-dependent southern African economies took the sharpest knocks of lockdowns implemented by governments during the period, while Zimbabwe Tourism Authority data showed that the industry lost US$1 billion as arrivals plummeted 90%, the biggest fall in four decades.

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