Club Med opens beach-and-safari resort in South Africa

Key points

• On 17 September, Club Med South Africa Beach & Safari Resort officially opened in KwaZulu-Natal, with more than 200 guests attending.
• With investment exceeding 2 billion rand, it is described as South Africa's most important tourism resort project in nearly 50 years and the country's first all-inclusive resort.
• The resort has more than 480 rooms — over 400 at the beach resort and 70-plus at Vikela Safari Lodge, which sits in an 18,000-hectare private reserve offering Big Five safaris.
• It is about 30 minutes from King Shaka International Airport and 45 minutes from Durban, drawing guests from roughly 30 countries and regions.
• During construction it created over 2,300 direct and indirect jobs and 600 permanent positions, plus about 1,500 additional jobs through suppliers; 84% of beach resort staff are South African and the Vikela Safari Lodge team is 100% local.
• The resort received a Green Star four-star rating from the Green Building Council of South Africa and promotes solar power, water conservation and reduced single-use plastics and food waste.
• Club Med Lifestyle Group currently operates 69 resorts across more than 40 countries and regions on six continents, targeting 85 by 2030.
• The group started a Hong Kong listing process on 28 August; in 2026 it opened Hangzhou Longwu, broke ground on Koh Samui in Thailand, and will open its first new Southeast Asian village in nearly 20 years in Kota Kinabalu by year-end.