SITE to boost tourist arrivals, says tourism operators

Zimbabwe tourism operators believe that hosting the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) Executive Summit will reinvigorate group travel arrivals and rekindle yester-year experiences when Victoria Falls alone used to play host to large numbers of tourists on weekends.

The country’s tourism capital is hosting 22 C-Suite executives from leading businesses in the field of incentive travel from major source markets for a board meeting running as part of a three-day conference being hosted by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).

The travel incentive executives are joined by local executives and tourism operators. Zimbabwe placed the bid to host the summit before Covid-19.

The event started on Wednesday and yesterday it was SITE board meeting which was attended by members only. The board meetings are continuing today.

In an interview, Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) president, Mr Wengayi Nhau, said local operators were reminded of the tourism sector’s hey-days. He said tourism was slowly recovering from the perceived political and economic turmoil.

“SITE is a group of experts who specialise in incentive travel of big groups looking for destinations that have a cocktail of attractions.

In the 1990s, Zimbabwe particularly Victoria Falls was popular as a green route bringing an average of 500 people every weekend in Victoria Falls,” said Mr Nhau.

He said the country had lost the status to be a preferred destination because of perceived political insecurity but was now getting recognition because of the engagement strategies including robust marketing by multi-stakeholders including Government and tourism sector players.

“Getting SITE summit in Victoria Falls is an endorsement of destination Zimbabwe.

Incentive travel is one of the tourism drivers and when you start getting groups coming back, that’s an endorsement of the country as a tourist destination,” said Mr Nhau.

The event is expected to end on Saturday but some of the executives will be in the country for 10 days to sample some of the country’s tourism attractions and activities.

Soon after arriving, the delegates visited the Hwange National Park to interact with wild animals and on Tuesday the delegation encountered a record pride of 29 lions, which is rarely seen on a single day.

After the two-day board meetings, which end today, they will embark on an educational tour of the country’s tourism facilities and attractions to have an experience of what Zimbabwe has to offer.

ZTA chief executive officer Ms Winnie Muchanyuka said the travel consultants will become ambassadors of Zimbabwe’s tourism industry.

She said attracting such a high-spending sector of tourism from across the globe is a huge opportunity for the country’s tourism, which is on a recovery path post Covid-19.

The industry is pinning hopes on hosting of Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions and Ms Muchanyuka paid tribute to operators who came together to put up some packages for the travel consultants.

SITE is a professional and prestigious association of incentive travel consultants dedicated exclusively to the global incentive travel industry.

Its executive leadership team are C-Suite executives from leading businesses in the field of incentive travel and are thought leaders and key decision-makers pioneering the growth of the US$75 billion incentive travel industry. — @ncubeleon