The news that social gatherings of up to 10 people are now allowed under alert level 2 has been warmly received.

Perhaps not as much fanfare as allowing the sale of alcohol and tobacco products again, but many South Africans were already meeting with friends and family, so that’s understandable

I’m not sure I will be rushing back to holiday resorts just yet, but if you are keen to do so, the news that Sun City will be reopening its doors from September 2 may hit the spot.

The resort employs in excess of 3 000 people, so they’ll be pretty stoked, too, with Sun City having shut its doors shortly before our national lockdown was put in place.

Below via Moneyweb:

Sun International group COO for hospitality Graham Wood welcomed the move to Level 2, which was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday. Considering that “the large majority of Sun City’s visitors are from outside North West” province, Wood is especially pleased that inter-provincial travel is now allowed.

“To say we are delighted by this news would be an understatement. With inter-provincial travel restrictions lifted our tourist hotels and resorts such as Sun City Resort will finally be able to reopen.

“It is unfortunate that the [10pm] curfew could not be further relaxed, but we are grateful and relieved that our restaurants can again serve alcohol,” he added.

If you’re on holiday, you don’t really need an excuse to day drink, but a 10PM curfew definitely gives you an extra reason to get stuck in early.

Wood called the alcohol sales ban “onerous”, which is certainly something that restaurateurs, as well as those involved in the wine industry, will agree with wholeheartedly.

Despite the fact that casinos were allowed to trade from as far back as July, when we dropped to advanced alert level 3, Sun City remained closed:

The group decided not to reopen these hotels or the expansive Sun City resort as it “did not make financial sense” due to the ban on inter-provincial and international travel under Level 3…

“Most of our casinos have been operating since 1 July and customers have been very supportive, but the curfew has hurt our business by reducing operating hours at a time when numbers on the floor already had to be limited, so we are hopeful that this can be relaxed or lifted soon,” Wood said.

As things stand, casinos can only operate at 50% capacity, in accordance with COVID-19 health protocols.

I guess that means you’ll have to spend some additional time poolside, making sure you get an appropriate number of drinks in before somebody cuts you off at 10PM.

Hell, why not treat yourself and crawl into bed at 8PM, for a full night’s rest before you go again tomorrow?

(But also, drink responsibly.)

[source:moneyweb]