'Ebola big threat to SA tourism'

THE Ebola outbreak was a major threat to the South African tourism industry, Mantis Group chairman Adrian Gardiner said yesterday. There were "massive cancellations as we speak".

In charge of the only five-star accommodation group with a footprint in all seven continents in the world, Gardiner said he was concerned about the perceived threat that tourists had over the outbreak.

The Mantis property listing in Africa alone comprises 25 properties, 10 in South Africa.

Mantis Collection marketing manager Ignus le Roux said he knew of one Cape Town tour operator which in one week had lost 22 group bookings, two destined for Mantis Group establishments.

"We are dealing with things as they happen. When the World Health Organisation issues a declaration, we may have serious problems but right now London is actually closer to Ebola than South Africa.

"We are experiencing a lot of cancellations in Kenya," Le Roux said.

Gardiner, who was briefing the media on the group's 70 hospitality properties across the world, said among the first tourists to cancel their African trips after the Ebola outbreak in West Africa were from China and India.

The threat to the tourism industry, however, did not stop the group's expansion plans across Africa.

Mantis would open a hotel in Lagos, Nigeria, in February. Gardiner said it would be the No1 hotel in Lagos, a five-star hotel.

He said Port Elizabeth companies had been involved with shopfitting the interior of the hotel.

Although there were concerns over the spread of Ebola in Nigeria, the country had recently been declared malaria-free.

A proud Port Elizabethan, Gardiner said the group's headquarters and his home were still in the city because he had not found anything better elsewhere.

Spoilt for choice with accommodation establishments in the most exotic and beautiful places around the world, Gardiner said he loved Port Elizabeth because it was the best place to bring up children, it had the most beautiful beachfront and hardly any traffic.

After Gardiner sold Shamwari Game Reserve he had grown his properties in the Mantis Collection, which operates on a combination of either owning, managing or marketing the properties. It grew to more than 70 properties from just five in 2000.

"It has really been a team effort. The passion of the people at each establishment is what makes it for me. I do not have any favourite," Gardiner said.

The group has also started playing in the three- and four-star market by teaming up with privately owned Australian operator StayWell.

It is a joint venture to grow the hotel brands throughout sub-Saharan Africa. - Cindy Preller