Chinese tourism: Lessons for Zim

still managed to enthrall a group of visiting Zimbabwean journalists.
The vast time differences, then the snowing that greeted the group on their first morning in China and the spicy food did not do much to dampen the interest of the journalists to explore the Asian nation’s tourist attractions. For the majority it was the first time to be in China.
And before the end of their stay in Beijing that stretched from 1 to 23 December 2011, most of the journalists had acclimatised to the chilly temperatures that averaged zero degrees most of the time.
They were literally beginning to savour the occasional trips to some of the country’s tourist attractions that were sandwiched between their training seminar and free time.
What they all acknowledged was that the Chinese attached immeasurable importance to their tourism industry and would do everything to promote it. And that Zimbabwe had a lot to learn from them.
Tourism is to China what agriculture and mining are to Zimbabwe. And the level of investment in the industry and the commitment by the Chinese government to preserve those sites that are key tourist attractions told it all.
At present China has 1 593 museums plus some special ones sponsored by the government, non-governmental organisations and even individuals that takes the tally to over 2 300.
There are historical museums such as the China National Museum and Museum of Qin Terra-Cotta Warriors and Horses, the arts museums such as the Palace Museum, the nature and science ones such as the China Geography Museum. Lastly, there is the general-purpose museums such as Shandong Provincial Museum and Museum of Tibet.
China has some 4 000 sites of cultural heritage, including ancient tombs, ancient ruins, ancient architecture, grotto temples, stone inscriptions, mural paintings, important historical sites of modern and contemporary times and other representative forms of art and architecture.
By June 2008, the Asian country had 2 351 national key protection units of cultural heritage, 9 300 provincial protection units and more than 58 000 prefecture-city or county-level protection units of cultural heritage. There are also 103 historically and culturally significant towns. All tiers of government attach great importance to the protection of the country’s cultural heritage with Central Finance increasing funds especially put aside for this purpose from 129 million Yuan in 1994 to 534 million Yuan in 2005.
This was followed by another investment of 1,736 billion Yuan (excluding some special funds) during the “Tenth Five-Year Plan” (period stretching from 2001-2005) by Central Finance an increase from 1,006 billion Yuan for the “Ninth Five-Year Plan” (period stretching from 1996-2000).
All levels of local government combined have since invested 6,153 billion Yuan while the total investment across China was 7,889 billion Yuan.
It is therefore not surprising when last year alone China had more than 300 million tourists visiting various sites across the country with domestic visitors claiming a bigger chunk of the figures.
The industry consequently raked in billions of dollars in revenue that were later channelled into the development of the mainstream economy and the sites from which they had been generated as well.
China has astutely managed its tourism industry and made all sites accessible for all through charging reasonable fees. It has also maintained roads to the sites in good shape and all sites have people on the ground for maintenance.
With such a showing, China easily qualifies for a role model for countries such as Zimbabwe that have abundant cultural and historical sites that are literally not being fully exploited for various reasons chief among them being inaccessibility and outright neglect.
Zimbabwe is littered with such sites and could make a lot of revenue from them if they are maintained and made visible on the map for all to see. Both domestic and international visitors have every reason to feel wooed to the sites once they are made visible and accessible.
In fact, there are abundant historical and cultural sites that are lying unexplored and are not being given the proper recognition they deserve – something that could have easily given them the status of tourist attractions. Zimbabwe’s tourism seems to be currently training all its energies on the development of infrastructure such as hotels that in essence are barely filled to capacity except on special occasions yet key focus should be on scouting and establishing such sites and promoting their contribution to the economy.
Government may also need to come up with policies that promote the effective remittance of all revenue generated from tourism operations into the coffers of the state so that the sector also contributes significantly to the Gross Domestic Product.
Tourist sites need to be maintained all times to enable government to collect revenue each time there are visitors. The entry fees to the sites do not have to be deterrent but just minimal to allow more visitors to come in. Some international tourists pay well before they even set their foot in Zimbabwe and the under normal circumstances, that revenue is expected to remitted to the Zimbabwean government within 30 days. It is the collection of such revenue that needs to be done diligently so that no cent is lost in the process.
China’s tourism industry is where it is because of its thorough policies in the methods of revenue collection starting from the little amounts that come from locals to the big amounts that come from foreign visitors. Locals pay just a token to visit the sites but their numbers are what make the difference in the end.
Cumulative totals of the payments are what matter and not big amounts that easily scare business away.
At the moment Zimbabwe’s tourism industry is on the mend especially after a decade of biting economic sanctions that had also pushed business away so it becomes imperative to capture all markets – domestic and international.