COVID-19 has claimed another business casualty in Samoa.
The upmarket iconic Sinalei Reef Resort and Spa has announced it is closing down.
Manager Sose Annandale told the Samoa Observer she is heartbroken but determined to stay optimistic about the 24-year-old resort’s future.
“It’s heart-breaking really, especially when you see the number of livelihoods impacted. Already we are down to the last 16 of the 106 staff we had.
Sinalei is one resort that has tried to stay opened since the pandemic-emergency border closures.
Neighbors Coconuts Beach Resort closed doors and stood staff down as soon as borders closed.
“We probably should have closed our doors sooner than this, to be honest, but we were hanging on in hope we could just make it another month, and another month,” said Annandale.
Despite their best efforts, the team could not shave the prices low enough to attract the numbers needed to keep the doors open and offer the quality people expected of the resort.
Meanwhile selling up has become a real option for the visitor industry operations around the country.
“It would be really sad if at the end of the day many of us local operators will slowly but surely fall and we will all be eventually bought out by people from outside.”
