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Organisation General Assembly in August.
Zimbabwe and Zambia are co-hosting the 20th session of the general assembly in the Victoria Falls from August 24-29, 2013.
The UNWTO General Assembly is the biggest event on the tourism family calendar and is a bi-annual gathering hosted by the 170 member countries on an equal basis, meaning Zimbabwe will not host the event again in more than 300 years, everything else being equal.
A lot of work is being done to spruce tourist facilities in the Victoria Falls as well as amenities and other complementary service providers.
With the hosting comes national pride. With the hosting comes the rebranding of Zimbabwe, which for almost a decade has been portrayed as rogue state, and unsafe tourist destination by the western media, following a standoff with former colonial master Britain over the land issue.
The internationalisation of the bilateral disagreement by Britain saw its allies, the Unites States of America and European Union imposing sanctions and backing the sanctions with a regime of travel warnings and bans.
The move almost brought the tourism and hospitality industry in Zimbabwe to its knees and the hosting of the general assembly is indeed a chance to redeem and rebrand ourselves as one of the safest and most attractive tourist destination.
In terms of natural attractiveness, the international barometer puts Zimbabwe at number 21 but in terms of tourist preferences and image, Zimbabwe is placed at number 134.
The difference between the two — that is the perception the tourist generating market has on us — is what the UNWTO hosting in meant address. Perception!
By merely successfully hosting such a mega event, Zimbabwe will have done an excellent perception management project, given that more than 1 200 delegates, among them ministers of tourism, chief executives of tourist board, the UNWTO tourism family and stakeholders, will have participated.
The delegates to the UNWTO General Assembly automatically become our brand ambassadors. How we handle them and the experience we give them, surely determines what they will say about us.
Many Zimbabweans have asked what is there to benefit from hosting such an event besides the immediate financial benefits to the service providers. The long-term benefits are for the country that will be endorsed as a safe and attractive tourist destination.
Although there has not been construction of legacy or signature infrastructure as expected by many, in the past month or so, there has been re-kitting, re-tooling and facelifting on many structures in the town.
Legacy or signature buildings are those built for mega events, and will be remembered, thereafter for hosting the events, like what the Government did in 1992 with the construction of the Harare International Conference Centre for the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government Meeting.
While such buildings are necessary as memorabilia, they are not a must and neither have they been a prerequisite for the hosting of UNWTO General Assemblies.
That aside, away from the madding media, the tourism and hospitality industry has gone into overdrive, with the support of Government departments, resulting in massive sprucing up work taking place.
The Victoria Falls Hospital has undergone a facelift and re-kitting with new equipment. The water supply system is being overhauled, almost very road has now been resurfaced, while the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls Highway is being widened from the Victoria Falls International Airport to the town. Work there is seriously in progress.
The Victoria Falls International Airport itself is having its runway expanded to enable it to accommodate wide-bodied aircraft while the terminal building is being extended to accommodate more passengers.
The hotels have not stopped facelifts and while the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, the vanguard of the country’s tourism and hospitality industry has embarked on massive training of hotel staff in the resort town, to prepare them for hosting the mega event where more than 1 200 delegates are expected.
Zimbabwe and Zambia have endorsed a new visa regime to allow visitors to have access to both countries without hitches.
What is left is refining or tying the loose ends, to make the event a success.
This is the fist ever time the UNWTO General Assembly is being held in Southern Africa and the second ever time it is being held in Africa, after Senegal hosted it in 2007.
The ball, therefore, is now in our court and how we play it determines whether we win or lose.
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