Chronicle Editor
Business Reporter
THE Bulawayo Publicity Association (BPA) says its presence at the recent Africa Travel Show in South Africa has attracted huge investment interest for the city.
The publicity association represented the City of Kings for the first time in 10 years at the show which was held from May 2 to 4 in Durban.
BPA marketing manager Mr Moreblessings Tshuma told Business Chronicle that during the tourism event, his organisation held a number of impromptu meetings with key potential partners and investors. The publicity association has not been participating at the Africa Travel Show since 2008 due to the economic hardships.
“Our major goal at this travel show was to promote Bulawayo as an investment destination of choice. This was done through various scheduled and impromptu meetings with key potential partners and investors.
“We managed to have meetings with other regional publicity associations, destination marketing companies (DMCs), tour operators and travel agents to convince them to consider building strategic partnerships with Bulawayo tourism players,” he said.
Mr Tshuma said during the travel show they also approached various airlines where discussions were centred on improving air connectivity into Bulawayo.
“We learnt that there is an interest from various airlines to add Bulawayo on their routes considering that most of these airlines are already operating in Zimbabwe flying into Harare and Victoria Falls,” he said.
Mr Tshuma said during the show they also distributed several promotional materials including brochures and DVDs on diverse investment opportunities the city offers. He said the DVD contained two videos showcasing Bulawayo from both the tourism and business or industry perspective.
“We also handed out to potential investors the BPA newsletters and a couple of pictures highlighting important sections of the city. These folders were well received by the Indaba participants,” he said.
The publicity association said Bulawayo had in the past two years recorded an improvement in tourists arrivals.
Last year, Bulawayo recorded a total of 583 000 international tourists up from 547 582 the previous year.
The increase in tourists arrivals could be attributed to familiarisation tours by players in the tourism sector including those that BPA has undertaken in the past.
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