GAMING FOR AFRICA


From Luggage Porter to General Manager of Sun International’s only Beachfront Casino Resort


Peter Tshidi was appointed General Manager of Sun International’s Wild Coast Sun on 1 May 2019. His return to the Sun International stable came after he had initially started his journey with the Group 22 years ago at The Palace at Sun City. Peter started out as a Luggage Porter at The


Palace of The Lost City in 1997. Since then, he has gained a wealth of experience in local and international hotel operations, retail, operations management and casino operations, both with Sun International and elsewhere. Today he sees himself as the custodian of a


national and signifi cant provincial tourism asset – The Wild Coast Sun. The WCS is Sun International’s only beachfront resort and second oldest property after Sun City, having celebrated its 40th birthday at the end of 2021. “Being back with Sun International makes me


feel like I have been around the world and have come home,” he said on his appointment at the Wild Coast Sun. Peter is hugely passionate about South Africa


as a destination and sees the Eastern Cape as a largely undiscovered jewel, a wonderland of people, natural beauty and products. He studied Hotel and Tourism Management


with Fáilte Ireland, Ireland’s national tourism authority based in Galway. “But during my career, I’ve done many other


managerial short courses and management classes on a wide range of topics and skills within the industry,” he says. “But what I found most memorable was


gaining personal knowledge by talking to the people I met during these classes. I am still learning today, by engaging with people from all walks of life.” He is not a man to rest on his laurels. He


simply says: “My biggest achievement is yet to come. I am always looking to achieve more tomorrow than I did today.” So even though the hospitality and tourism


sectors were among the hardest hit by the pandemic, Peter and his dedicated team have steered the Wild Coast Sun ship through the worst of the storm. “During December 2021 our room nights sold


rose to 99% of December 2019, the closest metric we have before the pandemic began,” he says. “What is interesting to note is that the beginning of December was buoyed by an increase in conferencing business, but by mid-December our guests were upcountry domestic travellers booking holidays for their families. They also booked longer stays with the minimum period being three days.” He credits good rates and offering value for


money as a key factor in the resort’s success. “We focused on what was within our control,


which is how rates became the success story of the month.” He believes that pent-up demand from the


domestic market and easing of Covid-19 restrictions are the other factors which will help drive the recovery in the domestic tourism sector this year. It is this drive, passion and focus that fuels a man who is family-orientated and describes his greatest achievement as his four children – one daughter and three sons. He is a keen sportsman, enjoying running and


surfi ng and in his youth turned out for Mamelodi Sundowns Under 21s. He is a huge supporter of the Brazilians, while his overseas team obviously supports Sundowns locally and internationally, he is an Arsenal fan. In rugby season, Peter’s allegiance is split between the Sharks and the EP Kings. Musically he is a fan of Mi Casa and lists


their song La Vida as his personal favourite, while he has come to love the seaside. “Anywhere that has gorgeous white sandy beaches.” Has he never considered other careers? “Not


really. Hospitality offers me a job that changes me all the time. It is a fast-paced environment where I am doing varied tasks each day. I am on my feet and moving around a lot which helps me think, feel, and react better. And I am not stuck in a cubicle all day.” For those seeking to start out in the industry


he has the following sage advice. “There are many and varied job roles available in hospitality. Waiters and Chefs often come to mind when one mentions a career in


A new plan to impose taxation on global social media giants like Facebook and Google by the Ghananian government, will have profound implications for teh country’s gaming operators. The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) is


planning on rasing US$4170-million (GHC 2.7-billion) from taxes) as it targets betting, gaming, and e-commerce companies this year. The GRA wants to collect most of its tax


revenue from betting, gaming, and online companies including Facebook, Google, Netfl ix, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Tiktok in a tax plan its says it is ready to deply by the end of 2022. The Commissioner of the Domestic Tax


Revenue Division (DTRD) of the GRA, Mr Edward Appenteng Gyamerah stated that the GRA is rolling out a policy to enable it to have a fair share of taxes from most of these companies. The Commissioner said they had already


started discussions with some of these online foreign entities and they’ve already started registering within Ghana to comply with the new policy. The Commissioner also stated that they


were developing a system to monitor operations of these entities which is currently under test trial and they had that it would be deployed in the second quarter of 2022. He, therefore, appealed to the players and


other stakeholders to support the authority to collect the right taxes due to the state.


hospitality. In truth, the hospitality industry is one of the largest sectors in the modern world, with enough variety in job roles for any kind of person, from the creative person to the corporate-minded.” And travel the world. “From a young age, I


wanted to travel and see the world. Hospitality became the best way to fund my travels and extend my qualifi cations in the industry. It helps grow you as a person.”


MARCH 2022 27


Ghana’s Planned Social Media Tax will Impact Gambling and Betting alongside Facebook and Google


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