adminWe warned in these pages that while being co-host of the UNWTO assembly was worth celebrating, such festivities had to quickly give way to proper preparations for us to reap the rewards of being hosts.
We applaud the country for having made great strides in preparing for the UNWTO meeting with all stakeholders in the tourism industry now fully aware of the importance of the meeting in marketing the country to the outside world.
It is the work of the detractors that have not had joy since the day Zimbabwe won the bid that we need to guard against by making sure that we make thorough preparations and prove to the whole world that Zimbabwe and indeed Africa has come of age and can play host to conferences of any magnitude.
We also welcome the vote of confidence and guarantee by President Mugabe that the conference would be staged successfully in spite of the hullabaloo from some quarters that doubt Zimbabwe and Zambia’s capacity to accommodate delegates from more than 180 countries.
“I have no doubt that we will successfully host this tourism general assembly which is taking place for only the second time on the African continent,” said President Mugabe in Zambia on Saturday.
We would like to thank the president for giving his seal of approval that should give all the stakeholders confidence that the government is fully behind playing host to the meeting following some voices from even within the Government that unsettled a lot of committed people that have invested so much time and energy into preparing for the 2013 event.
We are a year away from the general assembly and this gives us ample time to package the product that Zimbabwe is for presentation to the rest of the world.
We believe the tourism industry should put its act together and ensure that our tourism facilities are spruced up and employees retrained to handle the large volumes of people of diverse cultures next year.
The President’s guarantee, we believe, stems from the confidence that he has in his administration and the tourism and hospitality industry. The industry has to repay the President’s faith in them by performing beyond everyone’s expectation.
Even though the focus of the UNWTO assembly will be on tourism, there will be no harm in exploring other potential opportunities during the assembly so that we deepen our trade ties with all the countries that would be represented. Zimbabwe and Zambia are driving the vision of an integrated Africa down the regional collaboration thoroughfare in a practical demonstration of the fruits of regional solidarity.
Zimbabwean captains of industry and bureaucrats should spare no effort in preparing for the UNWTO assembly and use the next 10 months as dress rehearsal through improved service delivery in all tourism facilities in order to leave a lasting impression on our visitors and thus fulfil one of the key goals of the UNWTO, promoting sustainable tourism to improve the livelihoods of our people.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu