Government Ministers, businesspeople and representatives from the media joined a host of entertainers at Sun City last week to celebrate the resort’s relaunch after a R1-billion makeover.
Wednesday night’s launch introduced guests to the “new Sun City”, which hopes to expand its share of the growing conventions business in South Africa as well as attracting families and the millennial generation.
The five-year, R1-billion refurbishment looks to position Sun City more firmly as a business destination with dramatically upgraded and improved conference facilities.
The Sun Parks centre, is a facility that can be built into any style of venue in just a few hours.
With the Sun Parks centre as well as many state-of-the art auditoriums and meeting spaces in the Sun Centre, Sun City hopes to entice big and small conferences and events.
Rob Collins, Sun International’s chief operating officer, explained that the variety and flexibility of the spaces meant there are few limits, whether it be a folk music festival, a million dollar golf tournament, extreme sports events or wild game auctions, to mention but a few.
Many of the other upgraded facilities are designed to appeal to the whole family, including new rides in the Valley of Waves, action-packed watersports at Waterworld, mini golf, racing go-karts and a Lego room, a climbing room and an X-Box room.
The entertainment centre, which was built at a cost of R30 million in July 1981, now includes a variety of family experiences, including a South African Hall of Fame honouring South Africa’s outstanding sportspeople and performing artists.
The original hotel has been rebranded Soho hotel and repositioned as the resort’s ‘always on’ party zone. Also at Soho, the Sun City Casino, which was the first in South Africa to introduce million rand jackpots, and the Prive Salon have been revamped.
Rooms in the various hotels have been redecorated, and restaurants and bars have been spruced up to keep with modern tastes, times and technology.
