Through The Looking-Glass

Arthur Gillis, CEO of Platinum Hospitality Holdings, goes down the proverbial rabbit hole in search of greener pastures.

- Arthur Gillis

Lewis Carroll’s sequel to his famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There) features a scene where Alice regards herself in the mirror (the more aptly named “looking-glass”) and is pulled into a world where nothing is quite as it seems, where life events are contrary to the expected, a twilight zone, if you will.

The world has been hauled into a vastly alternate reality over the past few months. A reality ironically defined by its surrealness, characterised by tones of panic and hues of uncertainty. The devastation of the global pandemic on our own shores has touched us all; no individual, family, business or industry has been left unscathed.

The hospitality industry, my lifeblood for more than 40 years, has been one of those that has had to face up to its devastation in the looking-glass, and prepare to enter an unprecedented realm of repair – and dare I say, opportunity.

For the love of an unrelenting metaphor, let us go down the rabbit hole and picture ourselves at the threshold of its greener aperture into a South Africa that exists five years from now.

Imagine the scene: it is 20 September 2025 and you are in Cape Town. The streets are bustling, the sun is shining and you find yourself at a charming sidewalk cafe in the vibrant Bo-Kaap.

Around you there are tourists from every corner of the earth. Your ears pick up the beautifully juxtaposed tones of Swedish, Swahili and Spanish intermingled with the local charm of our country’s many dialects.