adminIsdore Guvamombe in Victoria Falls
THE Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe annual congress opened here yesterday with the Government pledging to avail a $200 million loan facility for the tourism sector to enable much needed recapitalisation after the sanctions-induced hiatus.Addressing delegates attending the HAZ congress yesterday morning, the secretary for Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Mrs Florence Nhekairo said there was need to continue revamping the industry by re-tooling, re-kitting and rebranding the facilities, ahead of the anticipated surge in arrivals in the coming years.
“As a ministry, we have re-engaged the ministry of finance with the hope of availing a $200 million loan facility for the industry. However, you would have to meet the normal commercial borrowing criteria to ensure that you pay them back,” she said.
Mrs Nhekairo said the loan facility would cater for small, medium and big companies in the tourism industry.
She said the Government had identified the tourism sector as one of the four economic pillars of the national economic turnaround programme.
“We are also consulting with Treasury for the extension of Statutory Instruments 124 and 199 which expired. The Statutory Instruments were put in place for duty free exemptions as a means to assist retool and re-kit the industry and it is our hope that we extend it so that the industry can import capital goods duty free.
The instruments really assisted a lot and the country benefited from them. I am glad to announce that treasury is forthcoming,” said Mrs Nhekairo. She, however, said stakeholders in the industry who abused the facility would not benefit again.
“However, if there are players who benefited from the facility and failed to develop the industry, please, you must not ask to be considered again.
This facility is aimed at developing the industry for the economic growth of the country,” she said.
The three-day congress would see the election of a new leadership to stir the industry into growth.
Online Reporter