adminThese countries are important source markets for Zimbabwe as they provide high spending tourists and everything must be done to show that Zimbabwe and its facilities are ready to receive international tourists. ATA last held its congress in Zimbabwe in 1988 and much has changed since then.
That the congress is being held in Zimbabwe at this time is important for a number of reasons. The first is that the association is endorsing Zimbabwe as a worthy tourist brand.
The West had turned Zimbabwe into a pariah because of the land reform programme which started at the turn of the millennium.
All sorts of stories, most of them outright lies, were written to discourage Western tourists from coming to the country while illegal sanctions meant it became difficult for the Government and private sector companies to invest in infrastructure rehabilitation and mordenisation programmes resulting in a fall of standards in some tourist resorts.
As the result of this onslaught, tourism arrivals in the country slumped.
Now that ATA has held its congress in Zimbabwe, it means that the country is back in the international spotlight and Zimbabwe stands to reclaim its place as one of the favourite tourist destinations on the continent.
Secondly, the congress provides an opportunity for a dress rehearsal for the far more significant United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) General Assembly to be held also in Victoria Falls and nearby Livingstone in Zambia in August 2013.
The ATA congress should provide our systems with an opportunity to test whether the country is ready to co-host the more than 3 000 delegates expected at the UNWTO general assembly.
The systems to be tested include the capacity of our airports, especially the Victoria Falls International Airport, hotels, lodges, shuttle buses and other tourist infrastructure to handle the large influx of people who will descend on Victoria Falls during the assembly.
During the UNWTO General Assembly, the eyes of the whole tourism world will be on Zimbabwe and we cannot afford any slip-ups.
We hope that officials in various sectors take any lessons and shortcomings learnt from the ATA congress seriously so that they correct them before the general assembly.
The ATA congress saw about 500 people coming in and we believe that this is a good sample for hotels, airports, shuttle buses and other service providers to test whether they would be able to handle six times the number in just over one year.
Fifteen months to the general assembly might seem a long time and tempt some to relax but with the preparations required for the event, the reality is there is little time to put up everything in place.
We believe that some of the measures that need to be in place by the time of the general assembly include ensuring that our national airline Air Zimbabwe is fully recapitalised and operational by the time of the general assembly.
The national airline has introduced three times weekly domestic flights but we feel come the general assembly, these flights should have been increased in frequency to at least daily as we cannot afford to inconvenience our guests.
It would be a national embarrassment if our national airline failed to transport guests during the general assembly and relied on airlines from other countries to do the job.
Despite the huge task ahead in preparing for the UNWTO general assembly, we believe, with unity of purpose, Zimbabwe will be ready in August 2013 to show the world that the country is back in business.
Online Reporter