adminOur reporter, Patrick Chitumba (PC) caught up with Eng Mzembi in Victoria Falls and had a wide-ranging interview with him;
PC: Minister welcome to the resort town of Victoria Falls.
Eng Mzembi: Thank you.
PC: Minister what has been your overview of Victoria Falls, tour and adventure operators and other service providers that include the International Airport and hotels as we work towards UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly 2013?
Eng Mzembi: Okay, so what you are asking is service provision and vision for provision?
PC: Yes Minister.
Eng Mzembi: For Victoria Falls, there are international benchmarks that must be followed or which must be met if we are to move up the scale to standards acceptable internationally. Such standards are seen at Iguassu Falls between Argentina and Brazil and at the Niagara Falls between USA and Canada. They are smaller in stature as compared to our Victoria Falls but they bring in a lot of business as they have the infrastructure and service provision and general entertainment for the visitors, which we do not have. The essence of tourism is to motivate the visitor to stay long and spend more and we are still behind to achieve that.
PC: So Minister what needs to be done?
Eng Mzembi: We have to start with the reception we give our visitors, start with accessibility of the destination. Accessibility is a major constraint especially for domestic tourists. For those from Harare, it takes them no less than eight hours, Vana Wasu (those from Manicaland), over 10 hours and from Masvingo it gets tiresome to get here by road in the absence of air travel. When one gets tired of driving, it also becomes dangerous hence the convenience of air travel. We need a paradigm shift here; we must see the opening up of domestic air routes, liberalising the airspace. Victoria Falls is accessible to foreigners as airlines continue landing here yet we say charity should begin at home. Air travel should not be a privilege of the rich only. We must also advance the cause of domestic tourists by having low-cost airlines like in other countries. It is only in Zimbabwe where flying is viewed as prestigious or a luxury. We must allow other players to induce a sense of competition and give the best bargain. Right now it is like a punishment to visit this resort town.
PC: So what can other businesspeople do or put along the roads to make travelling by road exciting?
Eng Mzembi: Because right now it is not enjoyable to travel by road, this is now an opportunity for entrepreneurs to provide stop-overs, to provide stops for food, refreshments so that our own people can travel (by road).
PC: Minister, after landing at the airport or driving into town what then needs to be done to improve service for our visitors?
Eng Mzembi: At Victoria Falls Airport we must reduce the unnecessary body searches of tourists which are both uncomfortable and intimidating. The tourists are coming in to spend their money and therefore we must search their pockets through best service provision so that they stay longer and spend more money.
We also want to see the capitalisation of local transfer companies so that they have the best vehicles to transfer visitors to their places of abode. I want to plead with the Minister of Finance (Tendai Biti) to review Statutory Instrument (SI) 124 and SI 125 to cater for other players other than safari operators to spruce up their products, to improve transfer fleet so that we have limousines and other transfer vehicles. Hotels do not seem to be doing badly in terms of service provision and to this, we have two testimonies by visits by Dr Edward Bergman of ATA (Africa Travel Association) and UNWTO executive director, Dr Harsh Varma and they both positively rated our grading system which they said met international standards.
PC: How about human capital in the industry?
Eng Mzembi: Yes, it is on the human capital where we also need to put our efforts and we have directed ZTA to run service provision workshops for all service providers all under one roof aimed at driving the message of attaining international standards. On this issue our hotels are failing on the 24-hour service in general as their restaurants close around 10pm until they reopen in the morning. We also want to see the general cheer of waiter and waitresses, from the ports of entry and we want to see a smile Zimbabwe campaign kicking off because these people want to be motivated to spend more money. However, our rates especially for domestic tourists are just outrageous and to imagine that a local tourist pays $90 for a game drive to see our own animals just puts off many would-be tourists. What gives the operator the right to charge $90? It is only that licence and he is making the product expensive because of the licence.
PC: How about international tourists? Are the rates fair on them?
Eng Mzembi: The international tourist has not yet complained, it is the domestic tourist that has complained about the pricing. We want to see dual pricing being introduced because the locals are being milked to death.
PC: Going forward.
Eng Mzembi: I do not know whether we love seeing queues or they are a sign of inefficiency. In this day of ICT, we need to see operators moving with time to avoid unnecessary queues. For example, there is no justification to see the long winding queues at the Rainforest. Parks (ZimParks) should introduce electronic booking, it should have sales consultants all over in hotels and lodges so that one just comes here and enters without the need of looking for a passport, asking the exchange rate and all that. There must also be different entry points for regional, domestic and international tourists because requirements are different. Parks should be innovative and lead by example. On prices, they should not be prohibitive as they scare away clients.
PC: How about the municipality’s role in development of tourism?
Eng Mzembi: The municipality is the custodian of the land and should attract international brands like McDonald’s. But right now there is no Disneyland, not even Nando’s in Victoria Falls, something is amiss. The step forward is establishing a business office, a desk mainly focusing on business development for Victoria Falls. Yes there are environmental concerns but while looking at it, we also need to look at the economic value brought about by business to the town and the country at large. We unfortunately have pressure groups, environmentalists and some organisations who tell us to keep our Rainforest virgin yet they opened up Niagara Falls and Iguassu Falls to become economic ventures where over 30 million visitors pass through each year.
As a result, we remain poor and to me it is an insult and therefore we need to make a choice on our future to allow our own vision on the world heritage status. Whites understand the areas we can use to prosper on like the Rainforest which should have a multiplier effect on our economy. The problem is that we have been schooled with thoughts that keep us so ancient and the whites want to continue seeing us like that.
PC: Are we therefore ready to host the UNWTO GA 2013?
Eng Mzembi: Yes we are and we will have the convention centre in time for the general assembly. We also need to check and on time all these areas I have talked about and these also include the medical centres.
It beats me to note that we have a nurses’ shortage at our health institutions in Victoria Falls yet the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare has put a freeze on employment. More of these areas need to be self-driven by players in the industry complementing Government’s efforts.
PC: Thank you Minister.
Eng Mzembi: You are welcome.
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