Editorial Comment: UNWTO: Time to cultivate new markets, re-establish old ties

Zimbabwe has once again been presented with a branding opportunity through the United Nations World Tourism Organisation General Assembly that gets under way this weekend in Victoria Falls. While having the date of the UNWTO general assembly so close to that of the harmonised elections caused so much apprehension even for some local actors, who feared that the elections would blight the success of the general assembly, it has turned out to be the biggest selling point on the Zimbabwean side of the hosts’ borders.

The peaceful elections have passed without incident and the inauguration takes place this week in time for the new Government to be paraded at the world event in Victoria Falls.

Peace is an important consideration to investors and Zimbabweans deserve the plaudits for the peace during the elections and the branding advantage they have given to their country.

Zimbabwe is open for business as it has always been but we shall not foist that on the rest of the world save to say the more than 155 country representatives to the UNWTO would be our ambassadors regarding their experience in the country in the week ahead.

This is an opportunity for our tourism industry to cultivate new source markets and re-establish old ties that have over the years been depressed due to negative publicity surrounding the political situation in Zimbabwe.

We had hundreds of foreign journalists that came for the elections at the end of last month who waited with bated breath for a negative story to break out in line with their expectations.

Zimbabweans, however, went about their political processes with such maturity the whole world was amazed at the achievement.
The governments of Zimbabwe and Zambia played their part in ensuring that the UNWTO general assembly is held in Victoria Falls and Zambia’s Livingstone and the business community in Zimbabwe, especially those in the tourism industry, should take up the challenge by ensuring that they provide the best service to lure tourists to our country.

Some of our businesspeople are now so used to lame excuses that cover up for their terrible marketing shortcomings and this time around we expect better from them.

We would also like to caution against the tendency to take advantage of such grand tourism occasions to rip off visitors. There is no need by our tourism players to scare off potential visitors through scandalously ridiculous overpricing of the tourism product.

Tourists can scan through the Internet and compare prices in the comfort of their homes and if our prices are too high, we will have nobody to blame for the poor tourist arrivals but ourselves.

Thanks to the UNWTO, so many facilities in the Victoria Falls and elsewhere have been spruced up and fully booked and it is our hope that good standards are maintained at tourist facilities so that we give a good image of our country.

Zimbabweans are generally a hospitable people and we are sure this time around would be no exception.
We are happy that preparations have gone very well and applaud the Government for its commitment to ensuring the success of the UNWTO general assembly.

Surely, the US$20 million invested by the Government into the holding of the event shows the Government’s full commitment and we call for equal commitment from all stakeholders to make our visitors comfortable so that when they go back to their countries they may be ambassadors of the new brand that Zimbabwe has become, free of the negative perceptions and having its story given first hand by a witness who would have sampled our hospitality.

Our hospitality sector does not need to send representatives to up to 200 countries with brochures to convince stakeholders in the industry there about the beauty and peace in Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe is bringing all these into Victoria Falls and all our local industry has to do is put its best foot forward in terms of exposing our tourism product.

We are happy that some of our corporates have shown enthusiasm and positioned themselves for a major take-off on the back of the UNWTO general assembly.

Said Meikles Limited in a trading update: “The country will take advantage of UNWTO to showcase its tourist attractions in an environment of peace and tranquillity.

“We therefore expect the occupancy levels to improve in future periods following this conference which is being co-hosted with Zambia.”
It is about time our tourism industry got on a rebound to improve its contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product alongside agriculture and mining.

Coming after the Harare International Carnival, the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair, Harare International Festival of the Arts and now the agricultural show in the capital this week, the UNWTO gives our tourism, and indeed other industries that will benefit from the spin-offs, an opportunity to tap into a wide market to guarantee the future of an industry that has over the years been affected by negative publicity and lately recession in Western nations.