Rainbow Towers Group Limited (RTG) Chief Executive Officer, Tendai Madziwanyika revealed that the company lost business worth millions of dollars due to social media attacks in 2016.
Madziwanyika was giving an update of the company’s performance for the past 5 years during an Annual General Meeting last week.
“We first had an experience of how dangerous social media can be,” Madziwanyika said. “how good it can be and how dangerous it was. We lost business worth about US$2,5 million because of that attack in this hotel.”
“I think you guys remember the social media attacks. I don’t know if anyone remembers this, where they were protests right in here (Harare Rainbow Towers Hotel)?”
RTG chairman Sijabuliso Biyam, in an annual report said the company which experienced the social media attacks, is committed to continuously invest in the product and such technologies as will deliver an exceptional guest experience in operations.
“To achieve this, we have focused on capacitating employees through local and regional training and development programs,” Biyam said.
“Moreover, the operating environment presented numerous opportunities to enhance revenue generation through heightened use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).”
Cyber crime damages are predicted to cost the world US$6 trillion annually by 2021 up from US$3 trillion in 2015.
The RTG social media attacks, which resulted in sensitive clients avoiding use of the company’s facility, came after a social activist Stern Zvorwadza’s protested against the Former Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko’s continued stay in the Harare Rainbow Towers Hotel according to local media.
“Despite subdued rooms revenue, the Harare market recovered significantly from the social media attacks of 2016, achieving a 4% growth compared to its full year 2016 performance,” Biyam said.
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