Sol Kerzner

Solomon Kerzner was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1935 to Russian Jewish immigrant parents. After becoming a chartered accountant, he entered the hotel business in South Africa. His entrepreneurial vision would eventually lead him to develop casino resorts across the globe, from Africa to the Caribbean to Southeast Asia.

In 1979, Kerzner opened Sun City in Bophuthatswana, a nominally independent homeland within apartheid South Africa. The resort offered gambling and entertainment prohibited in South Africa proper. Despite controversy, Sun City became enormously successful and demonstrated Kerzner's ability to develop resort destinations where none existed.

Kerzner specialized in creating destination resorts in locations that lacked existing tourism infrastructure. He understood that a sufficiently spectacular property could attract visitors to remote locations. His developments combined casinos with world-class hotels, entertainment venues, golf courses, and other attractions to create complete vacation experiences.

Kerzner's masterpiece was Atlantis Paradise Island in the Bahamas, which opened in 1998. The Atlantis-themed resort, with its massive aquarium and water park, became the Caribbean's premier resort destination. He also developed the One&Only luxury resort brand, demonstrating his expertise extended beyond gaming.

Sol Kerzner proved that the integrated resort model pioneered in Las Vegas could work anywhere in the world. His developments in South Africa, the Bahamas, and elsewhere brought economic development and tourism to regions that had little of either. He died in 2020, leaving behind resort properties that continue to attract millions of visitors annually.