Travel, tourism, restaurants and entertainment have been the hardest hit by the Covid-19 restrictions imposed by nearly every country in the world. In SA, the revised regulations enforced since Monday are no different, with the hospitality industry, and — uniquely to SA — the alcohol industry being impacted. Whether this will be a two-week crunch or a six-week crisis remains to be seen, but I suspect the latter.

Tsogo Sun Hotels has closed about 10 additional hotels, mainly in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and the systems we have put in place over the past 15 months of this Covid-19 nightmare are activated to ensure we minimise our cash burn, including reduced rostering of staff, transferring perishable stock from closing hotels to those that remain open, and switching off every piece of nonessential equipment. If demand at an open hotel drops below key levels, we will close that unit as well...