B-METRO COMMENT: Byo a tourism giant

LEGEND has it that Bulawayo is one of the countryaï¿½ï¿½s most attractive cities, with a pleasing mixture of Victorian and modern architecture which are maintained by the Bulawayo City Council and landlords as heritage sites giving the city a unique character.

For tourists, it has a lot to offer, aï¿½?either from within itself or the surroundingsaï¿½?. The city is located near Khami Ruins, the Matobo Hills (where Cecil John Rhodes as well as King Mzilikazi are buried), Matobo National Park, 330km from Hwange National Park andAï¿½ 440km fromthe Victoria Falls,.

The city also houses the countryaï¿½ï¿½s main museum, the Natural History Museum, a railway museum, the National Gallery in Bulawayo, which is housed in an attractive turn of the century building, theatres, the Mzilikazi Arts and Craft Centre, good hotels and one of the finest caravan and camping parks in Zimbabwe.

It is also home to the Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage, the Khami Ruins and one of the tourist attractions is former Vice-President Joshua Mqabuko Nkomoaï¿½ï¿½s statue.

Matopos is not only limited to the rocks or the grave of Cecil John Rhodes, but has so much more to offer visitors.
There is Silunguzi Hill village located next to Rhodes Matopos National Park. A visit to Silunguzi Hill entails seeing the bushmenaï¿½ï¿½s cave paintings and granaries.

There are three granaries hidden in three different caves at the village that have been preserved as attractions by the villagers.

Also situated in the vicinity of the village is a cultural centre where tourists are taught how to perform local chores like pounding using a pestle and mortar (ukugiga/kutswa), winnowing grinding (ukuchola/kukuya) as well as hunting using a spear.

For that reason, the city should take advantage of its hosting of the 10th edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani expo, Zimbabweaï¿½ï¿½s premier tourism travel exhibition to debunk the illusion that Bulawayo is a sleeping tourism giant.

This yearaï¿½ï¿½s exhibition will be held from 27 September to 1 October at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair grounds.

The Sanganai/Hlanganani expo is an annual tourism trade fair that showcases the widest variety of Africaaï¿½ï¿½s best tourism products, and attracts international visitors and media from across the world.

It is also a one-stop shop for suppliers, hoteliers, accommodation providers, travel agents and tour operators all meeting under the same roof.

Addressing a pre-launch meeting of the exhibition at a Bulawayo hotel recently, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke challenged Bulawayo companies to take advantage of the event to showcase their products and grow tourism in the region.

This followed indications that Bulawayo was showing low statistics as far as participating in the exhibition is concerned.

Statistics show that about 70 of Bulawayoaï¿½ï¿½s 209 operators registered with ZTA participated at Sanganai 2016 and so far for 2017 only 19 have registered. Kaseke challenged them to turn around these statistics, to reflect that Bulawayo deserves to be the home of Sanganai/Hlanganani.

Now itaï¿½ï¿½s over to local musicians to pen songs that glorify the city aï¿½ï¿½ not only for Sanganai/Hlanganani.