Revisiting what constitutes tourism

of what constitutes Zimbabwe’s tourism. Our conceptualisation of what constitutes Zimbabwe tourism must not be restricted to experiencing the few iconic features that are clearly outstanding like the Victoria Falls, Lake Kariba and the Eastern Highlands.
Zimbabwe’s tourism must embrace all things Zimbabwean, our natural and physical features: our land, our water bodies, our forests, our wildlife; all our natural resources in their entirety and their diversity. Our tourism must consist of all our cultural elements, our music, dance, drama, artifacts, architecture, our agriculture, our mining, our literature, and everything man-made.
The second part of my vision of Zimbabwe refers to a “Zimbabwe among the various nations of the world”. It has to do with how Zimbabwe is seen and related to by other countries, by the rest of the world. My vision is one of a Zimbabwe that is a centre of admiration by other nations of this world.
The above conceptualisation of Zimbabwe tourism means the whole of physical Zimbabwe is a tourism product, not only the iconic features like Nyanga Mountains or the huge Baobab Tree, but every square inch of Zimbabwe, high or low; every tree type of Zimbabwe is a potential tourism product.
Of course, we will have several outstanding features that anchor our tourism, but they should not be promoted at the cost of every other Zimbabwean physical feature. The light fresh air of the Vumba Mountains should be as saleable a tourism product as the hot springs of Chimanimani.
In fact, we have been unable to take advantage of our best climate status in the world rating by the UN climate Agency to attract tourist traffic from the world’s heat wave zones and natural disaster spots like the desert regimes in North Africa, Middle East and other equally hazardous source markets like Japan, Australia and Indonesia.
We are the modern day proverbial biblical high ground in Genesis Chapter 2, Noah’s Ark. It is all a question of packaging. On the man made or cultural side of our diversity, narratives about the liberation war are as much a tourism product as a musical piece by Oliver Mtukudzi, Thomas Mapfumo and so on.
A spot where a local former cattle-herder, turned guerilla, fell under Rhodesian gunfire, in a remote village in Dande, is as much a shrine as is the Heroes Acre in Harare. It is all a question of packaging for tourism.
Thus, going forward, everything about Zimbabwe can and should be developed into a tourism product. Everything from our agriculture, our mining, our fishing, our crime-free city streets, even our politics, should be packaged as tourism products. In this sense I see the whole of Zimbabwe as a tourism development zone, as opposed to a few selected locations.
KwaMereki should be as packageable as the Harare Central Gardens. It’s all a question of organisation, creativity, packaging and marketing. The international dimension of our understanding of tourism is just as important as the local national dimension.
Our international tourism efforts are just as important as the domestic tourism efforts. In fact when it comes to revenue earnings the international tourism dimension is far more important, but it is clearly unhealthy, at the social political level, to emphasise international tourism at the cost of domestic tourism. We must take our country and people to the world, but also bring the world to our country and our people.
Members of the in-coming board will note that we are seeking on the domestic scene to put in place structures to devolve tourism planning and product development from the centre in Harare to the outlying provinces and districts. This way we expect to evolve a truly Zimbabwean tourism.
At the international level we have made some brave forays into the international markets at both Authority and Ministry level. We will continue with that thrust. Zimbabwe should not allow itself to be isolated or marginalised. We must engage fully with the international community at both bilateral and multilateral levels.
We have scored considerably in this regard hitherto. We will intensify our efforts. The totality of our experience in the last two years has shown us that in order to rapidly grow our domestic, as well as international tourism we need to rapidly increase the revenue that we generate from tourism itself. And that growth in revenue is a direct function of increased international arrivals.
Global tourism revenue and arrivals at the close of 2010 stood at 1,2 trillion and 935 million arrivals respectively. Africa’s share is a mere 4 percent and Zimbabwe’s share is 2 percent of the African share. South Africa our neighbourly benchmark is at 23 percent share of the African market.
We should position ourselves to tap into this global and African tourism business, and the work for the board going forward would be to position Zimbabwe to perform within the context of the WTTC Economic impact research report for 2011 to 2021, which has adjudged Zimbabwe to be the second fastest growing tourism economy in the world at a growth rate of 6,9 percent per annum, and annual revenues of US$850 million for the period.
I have set for the board US$5 billion revenue target, 5 million arrivals by 2015, with the current peace and stability prevailing in the country, and our ability to spin a more positive image of ourselves as preconditions. And this is what as minister I will be communicating with my colleagues in Government.
We need therefore to exponentially increase our international arrivals and a major handicap we face in doing so with our limited and exhausted tourism infrastructure. As the new board comes in, our experience tells us that this is an area that the ZTA as the ministry’s sole executing agency, needs to pay particular attention to. The new board is therefore coming in at a time when we are shifting and expanding the role of the ZTA. The new ZTA will need to play a more substantive role in growing the tourism infrastructure of Zimbabwe.
We need more world-class, high-flying hotel brands in our major cities. We need more international conferencing facilities, more leisure resorts. We need more and better equipped infrastructure in our national parks. We need better road networks. We need big and better airports and efficient airlines linking different parts of our country, and linking our country to the rest of the world.
Our experience has shown us that unless the public sector, preferably in partnership with the private sector, plays a role in the development of such infrastructure, the job will not be done.
Indeed, since the state built such structures like the then Sheraton Hotel and the HICC, as well as the National Sports Stadium, there has not been any such further development in Zimbabwe. Yet such infrastructure is critical for mega-events which in turn drive international arrivals and increase tourism receipts.
When we look at countries around the world, at our stage of economic development, we find that it is the state, or its agencies, that drive the construction of tourism and tourism-related infrastructure. Indeed in countries like the emerging economic power of China, the state not only leads in infrastructural development, but plays an active role in investing in tourism business itself. This is a model we should domesticate and follow in Zimbabwe.
In Zimbabwe, even as we highlight Community Based Tourism enterprise, there remains great scope, even great need, for the state to play a role in tourism mega projects. Indeed we can structure our tourism development model in such a way that the CBTEs benefit from the big state-related players.
In this regard, my ministry has come to the firm conclusion that it is the ZTA that should be Zimbabwe’s lead agency in driving the construction of the much required tourism infrastructure in the country.
At one time we were faced with the question of whether it was possible to do this within the ZTA or whether we needed to create another body for this purpose. After giving the matter much thought, and consulting legal counsel, we find that it can be done within the framework of the current Zimbabwe Tourism Act, albeit with additional Statutory Instruments here and there.
Indeed the process has actually started and the ZTA has already created two vehicles for this purpose, but we believe the function must now be accorded the urgency that it deserves. In creating the various board committees that will oversee its different areas of responsibility, the board will need to keep this new thrust in mind.
On the ground my ministry has already started the necessary moves to consult and inform our principals and other stakeholders as we move into this new direction with the ZTA.
Our sister and enabler ministries will be fully consulted and brought on board as we reposition the authority. Indeed, we are already in communication with them as we plan meetings to discuss the Issues Paper, a forerunner to our new National Tourism Policy. I must add that this surely implies an expanded role for the ZTA, but clearly all within the provisions of the current Act.
We will not take away anything from its current portfolio, which includes the marketing and promotion and promotion of destination Zimbabwe at home and abroad. Indeed the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority can keep its current popular projects like Miss Tourism and the Celebrity Host programme.
They are useful and effectively serve the purpose for which they were created. However there is no question that we need to create for the authority a more substantive role as the lead agency for driving tourism infrastructure investment and development in Zimbabwe.
In doing so, we see the authority enter into such arrangements as public private partnerships (PPPs), build operate and transfer (BOT), and ultimately get to the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.
l Walter Mzembi is the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry in the Zimbabwe Government.