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Presenting his 2011-2012 report at the just ended HAZ Congress in Gweru recently, Mr Hwingwiri said the hospitality industry had also agreed with the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority on rates to be charged for different hotel categories.
“Industry successfully engaged the ZTA and the Ministry (of Tourism and Hospitality Industry) over the perceived over-pricing during Travel Fair. Our position was premised on the demand and supply principle but at the same time applying an element of reasonability.
Rates for different hotel categories have been discussed and agreed on with ZTA for the UNWTO conference where we have offered them 60 percent of room availability for the event,” he said.
Mr Hwingwiri said HAZ had also been active working closely with other stakeholders in the tourism and hospitality sectors to ensure the successful hosting of the UNWTO conference which Zimbabwe is going to co-host with Zambia in August next year.
He said there was close collaboration between HAZ and the Minister, Engineer Walter Mzembi and the ministry’s permanent secretary.
“We are working closely together with other players from different sectors. We also have regular engagement with the ZTA on industrial issues. HAZ also participated in the drafts of industry paper on industry challenges which was tabled before Parliament,” said Mr Hwingwiri.
The HAZ president paid tribute to the sector for its role in the successful bidding to host the 2013 UNWTO General Assembly conference.
He, however, bemoaned the bottlenecks that the sector was facing in importing capital goods despite the successful lobbying of Statutory Instrument 125 and 126.
“HAZ successfully lobbied for the re-introduction of SIs but we are currently facing bottlenecks as it has become increasingly difficult to import capital goods, especially the locally produced which is attributed to Buy Zimbabwe Campaign. ZTA and the Minister Mzembi are constantly being engaged on this,” said Mr Hwingwiri.
HAZ embarked on a number of marketing initiatives that led to the industry’s successful hosting of the ATA congress UNWTO inspection visits as well as the upcoming Sanganai/Hlanganani Travel Expo.
Mr Hwingwiri said the industry contributed by providing complimentary accommodation as well as industry rates after recognising the need to continuously compliment ZTA efforts in promoting the destination.
The association, he said, was also conducting a number of skills and other forms of training to enhance service delivery ahead of the UNWTO conference.
“We encourage operators to allocate one to two percent of the revenue towards training. However, subscriptions alone will not sustain our association. We need to engage in some fund-raising activities,” said Mr Hwingwiri.
The HAZ president said the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism was collaborating with the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe on improving Zimbabwe airports and standards. He said there was need to bring major carriers to Zimbabwe.
“ZCT and CAAZ are also collaborating on introducing daily flights by Emirates, Namibian Airways as well as plan for KLM and Qatar Airways. There is teamwork on regular updates on the airport upgrading at Joshua Nkomo in Bulawayo, Vic Falls and Harare International Airport,” said Mr Hwingwiri.
He said the sector was faced with low occupancies in areas such as Nyanga, Lowveld, Masvingo and Victoria Falls.
“Utilities costs continue to grow at a faster rate than increase in revenue. We are faced with unavailability of favourable lines of credit for capital expenditure (revolving fund). There is a training and development gap resulting in continual use of casual labour especially during the peak period. The poor state of roads also affects business. Another challenge faced by the industry is the training and development gap resulting in continual use of casual labour especially during the peak period. Lastly, we have accessibility challenges — Emirates connect the world to Harare. The question is: “How does one connect from Harare to Vic Falls?” said Mr Hwingwiri.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter