Ramesh Jeenarain has been appointed head of sales at Sun Resorts’ head office in Mauritius.
His role will be to oversee the sales function of Sun Resorts for various source markets (Southern Africa, Rest of Africa, Réunion, Mauritius, Australia, Far East, India, Middle East, Russia and Eastern Europe), thus, he will relocate to Mauritius with his family.
From a World Leisure Holidays perspective, he will continue to manage the strategic and financial aspects of the business in his capacity as md remotely from Mauritius. He said that other than his physical presence, not much else has changed.
“The day-to-day operations will be looked after by Elaine Durr (operations director) who has been with the company for the past 25 years. Elaine is extremely passionate about World Leisure Holidays and has been my 2IC for the past five years. Elaine will be fully supported by the management team, which remains the same.
“Being involved at the head office level of Sun Resorts will also allow me to closely look at potential synergies and collaborations which can be shared with World Leisure Holidays,” said Ramesh. “The COVID pandemic has taught all of us a new norm of ‘Remote/virtual’ working, thus other than being physically located in Mauritius, I will be present in South Africa through virtual platforms on a continuous basis.
“The past 16 months have deeply affected the travel industry since the initial lockdown in March 2020. Fortunately, we at World Leisure Holidays are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel now that Mauritius has announced reopening of its borders fully for vaccinated travellers as from October 1, 2021.” Ramesh believes the future of travel will be a bright one and this bright future is on the horizon now.
Ramesh grew up in South Africa, did his schooling and university, qualified as a chartered accountant in South Africa, and has been involved in the SA travel industry for the past 10 years. Thus, South Africa will always have a special place in his heart. “Mauritian by birth but South African at heart,” he said.