Andrew
Online Reporter
ZIMBABWE has launched a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), which is a standard statistical framework to measure tourism performance and its contribution to the economy.
Speaking during the launch ceremony on Thursday, acting Permanent Secretary for Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Dr Douglas Runyowa said TSA will help the country compare its performance in the industry with other countries.
“Zimbabwe Tourism Satellite Account is coming in at a time when the tourism sector is facing severe challenges due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has affected not just Zimbabwe alone but the globe as a whole,” he said.
As a result of the pandemic, official figures show that Zimbabwe witnessed a decline in tourist arrivals from 2 294 259 in 2019 to 630 369 in 2020.
The negative trend further continued in 2021 as arrivals suffered a further downfall of 40 percent to 375 799.
Dr Runyowa said Government is hopeful that the launch of the TSA will make an important benchmark to use in measuring the tourism impact during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The TSA report has availed critical information on the value of the tourism economy which should energise us to work hard in our pursuit of the sectoral target to reach a US$5 billion economy by 2025.
“The results presented indicate that as of 2018, the tourism economy was estimated at US$1,96 billion, hence our work is cut out as we need to achieve a two-fold growth target to achieve a US$5 billion tourism economy by 2025.”
Online Reporter