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He said among the chief attributes to the country’s stagnated tourist arrivals was an unfriendly visa regime, high pricing by hospitality players and a relaxed brand marketing strategy which needed more aggression
The country’ tourism sector is yet to find a competitive footing on the regional tourism arena after having realised only 2 percent of international tourist arrivals in Africa, translating to just over one million visitors, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Engineer Walter Mzembi told stakeholders at the World Tourism Day commemorations held last Friday in Harare.
Minister Mzembi bemoaned the country’s paltry market share on the African continent which he said was deserving proportion to a country of Zimbabwe’s natural splendour which is complemented with a peaceful and educated population.
Despite realising steady growth in recent years following an epoch of epic decline since the turn of the millennium, the country’s tourism sector has not performed well against its regional counterparts, missing out on the global tourist visit boom which reached the one billion mark as at December last year.
International tourist arrivals sprung by 4,3 percent in 2014 to 1,133 generating US$ 1,5 trillion in export earnings with United Nations world Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) projecting growth of between 3 percent and 4 percent of international tourism arrivals in 2015.
“Zimbabweans are appreciated worldwide for their peaceful nature hence we need to sell this quality as it underlines any tourism success story”,
“Tourism has a projected annual growth rate of 5,1 percent for 2015 leading mining at 3,6percent, manufacturing at 1,2 percent and agriculture but our performance could be better. We are doing 5,1 percent growth without fiscal support. But I want to say whether money or no money, we must create money”, Engineer Mzembi said.
He said among the chief attributes to the country’s stagnated tourist arrivals was an unfriendly visa regime, high pricing by hospitality players and a relaxed brand marketing strategy which needed more aggression.
“Pricing is a key feature we need to come up with a regional price index to be competitive”,
“Complicated visa procedures have continued to impede tourists from travelling here. The country must speedily remove visa requirements and implement e-visas or implement visas on arrival measures”
Despite the introduction of the KAZA uni-visa between Zimbabwe and Zambia late last year, analysts have remained skeptical of the initiative in achieving luring tourists stating that other key drivers such as synchronising price structures with regional index were not being addressed hence had a severe impact on the competitiveness of the destination.
He also called for creativity among the country’s tourism players in both promoting the country’s brand and in pursuing their tourism business ventures especially in the current difficult environment characterised by erratic power supply.
“We should take it as an opportunity to harness the sun. We should have an incentive for players who want to come up with solutions that exploit renewable energy especially solar and biogas”, he added.
The commemorations which ran under the theme “One billion tourists, One billion opportunities” came barely a week before the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority is set to host the Harare International Carnival from October 8-10 which is aimed at promoting the country’s tourism destination.
Online Reporter