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THE successful holding of the Constitutional referendum and harmonised elections last year played a major part in endorsing Zimbabwe as a safe tourist destination, with bookings surpassing targets by more than 10 percent, an official has said.Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe president Emmanuel Fundira said the industry recorded an increase in business last year despite challenges stemming from the negative media publicity the country had been receiving over the years.
“To a large extent 2013 was better than expected in the sense that it was a year aggregated by a number of national issues one being the national referendum at the beginning of the year and the national elections on July 31,” he said.
“Fortunately when we successfully handled the referendum there was a clear indication that there was peace and stability and that environment helped a lot in terms of motivating perception which was more positive than before. So by the time we came to the harmonised elections we did not experience any cancellations at all. What we did was to experience additional business coming in because the confidence level had improved from the period when we had the referendum.”
Fundira said this year, safari operators would be employing various strategies to boost business.
“For 2014 I think we already sent the correct signals to the market that we are able to conduct elections, that we are able to host international events like the United Nations World Tourism Organisation successfully, so we are now competing at par with other countries in the region and beyond in terms of regaining our position as a top notch tourism destination.
“We would like to see more and more ministers who are custodians of the tourism product being able to enjoy free travel so that they can be able to participate and preach Government policy position when we go on international tours,” he said.
Zimbabwe’s image as a safe tourist destination was boosted by the successful co-hosting with Zambia, of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly in August last year.
The tourism industry is targeting to grow its contribution to GDP to 15 percent by 2015, on the basis of 3,2 million arrivals and $5 billion in earnings.
According to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, the country recorded a 12 percent increase in visitors in the first half of 2013, with arrivals reaching 859,995 compared to 767,393 recorded during the same period last year.
Online Reporter