Sunbird Tourism plc says it has invested K600 million in a modern beach front restaurant facility at its Sunbird Waterfront and Sunbird Livingstonia Beach resorts in Salima set to be unveiled next month.

The restaurant facility will incorporate a 40-seating capacity ala carte restaurant, a 160-seating capacity all day restaurant, including outside seating patio, and a modern bar lounge.

In a statement made available to Business News, Sunbird Tourism plc chief executive officer Yusuf Olela said the investment is a further commitment to ensuring that the hotel chain is continually developing new products aligned to the dynamic needs of its guests and emerging trends.

Olela: This is a much-awaited facility

He said: “Our focus on improving guest experience is always at the forefront of ensuring an unrivalled guest experience and that our service delivery at all levels is continually improving in our hotels and resorts.

“The new restaurant is positioned as a culinary destination in Salima and will ensure value for money and memorable experiences. The ala carte restaurant will transform the resort experience for our leisure guest and individual travellers. This is a much-awaited facility that we  intend to further develop at Sunbird Nkopola in the near future to provide enhanced dining options for our guests.”

Last year, the Malawi Stock Exchange-listed opened its K5 billion 42-room Sunbird Waterfront, located adjacent to Sunbird Livingstonia Beach with all rooms facing the scenic view of Lake Malawi.

The resort’s composition includes 10 suites, four family rooms, two accessible rooms and 26 deluxe rooms, all fitted with modern amenities and facilities, redefining luxury and fitting international standards

In December last year, the hotel chain said it expected its performance for the year ended December 31 2021 to be better than the previous corresponding year by more than 150 percent.

In 2020, the listed hotel chain, which has nine establishments, reported a loss of K1.2 billion from a profit of K2.6 billion in 2019 due to the adverse impact of the Coivd-19 pandemic on the tourism sector.

This performance, according to market analysts, signals a process of the business environment returning slowly to normality as the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the industry is better than the first wave.

The tourism and hospitality sector has been affected by Covid-19 with the 2021 Malawi Government Annual Economic Report indicating that by mid-2020, Malawi lost over K42 billion in revenue through cancellation of confirmed bookings and lost an estimated 300 000 jobs out of which 253 000 were direct jobs.

Tourism contributes about seven percent to the country’s gross domestic product and accounts for six percent of the country’s total employment, according to the National Statistical Office.

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