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ENVIROMENT, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Permanent Secretary, Mr Munesu Munodawafa, says the sector remains optimistic that it will bounce back post-Covid-19 through investing in human capital and service excellence as part of the recovery strategy.
In an interview with Ultimate Tourism Chat podcast host, Mr Godfrey Koti, Mr Munodawafa laid out the three phased recovery plan, which will be focusing on domestic, regional and international source markets.
“To the players let’s take this opportunity to invest in our people, service excellence will be a game changer post Covid-19,” said Mr Munodawafa.
“We have been good but let’s get better, let’s take the opportunity let’s train our people, let’s keep them refreshed let’s keep them optimistic and ready. Let’s be ready to come back.
“That is what we are saying to the players and we are happy they seem to have responded very positively. However, we are also saying to the players; look at how as a country we have responded to Covid-19, we have followed the protocols and guidelines.”
Through adopting lockdown measures, he said Zimbabwe has managed to keep the infection numbers low. In this regard, he said as tourism players prepare to open, they should seriously look at the World Health Organisation (WHO) protocols and follow them.
“On another note, we have worked together as a ministry, ZTA and Ministry of Health and Child Care and we are consulting industry to say let’s institute specialised and focus set of guidelines for operationalisation within our sector and once these are out, we need to make them part of our DNA post Covid-19,” he said.
Mr Munodawafa said such comprehensive measures were important to ensure that guests feel safe and come in large numbers. He urged the sector to continue with the clean-up exercise and hygiene awareness and carry on with the same post the Covid-19 pandemic.
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