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Zimbabwe scored yet another victory against its detractors when it was named the best tourism destination and the world’s most attractive destination in 2014.
The president of the European Council on Tourism and Trade, Professor Caragea who is leading a five-member delegation that is in the country to present the two awards to Zimbabwe today, said the country beat 27 other countries from around the world. He said Zimbabwe was the first country in Africa to be awarded such an honour.
“Zimbabwe is one of the most beautiful countries in the world with a rich culture and history, a true world treasure, and without doubt, one of the most impressive areas in Africa, hence the unanimous decision to present it with the two European awards,” said Prof Caragea.
He said the presentation of the awards was an endorsement from the EU that Zimbabwe was ready for investment. Prof Caragea and his delegation have already met Vice-President Joice Mujuru and a number of cabinet ministers. The delegation, Prof Caragea said, will take the opportunity to explore business opportunities.
After years of travel warnings by key EU countries such as Germany and Britain, the block seems to have of late embraced Zimbabwe as a safe tourist destination. The country last year successfully co-hosted with Zambia the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly which attracted more than 3,000 delegates.
It is our belief that these delegates are now our tourism ambassadors that are giving true information about Zimbabwe to counter the falsehoods peddled by the Western media and some local media houses.
Zimbabwe, we want to believe, has made great strides in sprucing up its image which was deliberately soiled by false media reports that claimed unfounded security concerns. Those that are visiting Zimbabwe are seeing for themselves that the negative publicity that the country has been subjected to over the years by the Western media was just propaganda meant to destroy the country’s tourism industry.
Zimbabwe is endowed with flora and fauna and those that love nature find it difficult to resist the temptation to visit the country. Zimbabweans’ hospitality guarantees visitors a memorable stay in this country hence many of them always want to come back.
The challenge to the country’s tourism industry is to continuously upgrade the services that the country offers so that the services always match the world standards. Now that the country has been endorsed as the world’s most attractive destinations for 2014, we expect a sharp increase in tourist arrivals.
We should therefore not be found wanting when it comes to providing first class services to our visitors so that they become ambassadors that will market the country to those that are yet to visit our various tourist destinations.
Countries that have in the past won similar awards like Trinidad and Tobago have witnessed an upsurge in tourist arrivals and Zimbabwe will definitely witness the same windfall.
There have been complaints that Zimbabwe’s tourism products are overpriced and there is therefore a need for those in the tourism sector to address this challenge. We want our tourism products and services to remain competitive internationally so that we continue to attract large numbers of tourists. Tourism and mining are the sectors expected to quickly boost the economic turnaround hence the country’s focus on these sectors.
derick.khumalo