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NewsDay

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Cresta bullish as group opens $6m conference centre

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CRESTA Group of Hotels has unveiled its $6 million conference centre in Harare capable of holding 400 delegates seated and 600 in cinema style as it seeks to take advantage of the recovering tourism sector.

CRESTA Group of Hotels has unveiled its $6 million conference centre in Harare capable of holding 400 delegates seated and 600 in cinema style as it seeks to take advantage of the recovering tourism sector.

Report by Byron Jele

The group’s chief executive officer Glenn Stutchbury said exciting times lay ahead for the group following the opening of Sango Conference Centre.

“Sango will also be the dining solution for our existing conference block adjacent to this new venue. Sango Conference Centre will have all the necessary, up-to-date, high-tech audiovisual equipment and will have capacity for video-conferencing,” said Stutchbury.

“Our message is we are serious about and ready for business. This is a very exciting time for us at Cresta Lodge and Cresta Zimbabwe as we witness the real progression of our new conference centre. As you know, sango means a glade of trees and fits into the entire feeling and mood that is Cresta Lodge.”

He said Cresta Lodge was poised to be a market leader in the revived tourism and conference sector in Zimbabwe.

Turning to the recent lease agreement deal to operate Sprayview hotel in Victoria Falls, Stucthbury said this presented the group with an opportunity to partake business in the country’s premier tourist destination.

“The Sprayview deal will enable us (Cresta) to partake in the premiere destination in the country. It is not right for a group that wants to be serious players in the market not to be in Vic Falls,” he said.

Cresta Hotels and the Gardini family recently entered into a lease agreement.

Under the deal, the hotel shall be rebranded Cresta Sprayview.

Refurbishment of the hotel is expected to commence soon. Cresta hospitality group is one of Southern Africa’s largest hotel management groups, with several properties in Botswana, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The hotel portfolio in Zimbabwe was expanded in the mid 1960s with the addition of the Cresta Oasis Hotel and the Cresta Churchill Hotel in the 1980s.