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Oliver Kazunga Acting Business Editor
THE Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Company says its hotel construction project is still on although no significant progress on building the hotel has been made.
Recently, Bulawayo City Council (BCC) revealed that it had granted the exhibition firm the green light to build a hotel on a piece of land located at Bulawayo Golf Club. “Since our last discussion, there hasn’t been significant progress but that project is still on. There is no specific challenge to the project as such,” said the ZITF Company chairman Bekithemba Nkomo, in response to questions from the media during a Press conference yesterday.
The ZITF Company has proposed to build a 300-bed hotel to reduce accommodation challenges in Bulawayo particularly during the annual trade showcase. At the moment, the ZITF Company has partnered with Ecological Safaris as part of efforts to ease accommodation challenges.
During the Trade Fair, scores of exhibitors and visitors from outside the city struggle to secure accommodation as hotels and lodges run out of rooms. Consequently, private landlords have taken advantage of accommodation challenges during the exhibition by charging high rates to desperate visitors.
“We don’t believe that accommodation will be a reason for people not to come to the Trade Fair,” said Nkomo.
According to BCC, the city has 525 hotel and lodges beds. Meanwhile, a recent survey by this paper showed that a number of hotels in Bulawayo were fully booked while bookings are still in progress for the rest of the hotels ahead of the ZITF.
This year’s trade fair runs from April 22 to 26 under the theme, “New Ideas to New Heights”. The Trade Fair is one of the biggest annual events of the year in Bulawayo with a number of exhibitors coming from out of town.
Online Reporter