adminWalter Mswazie Masvingo Correspondent
Thousands of people visited the Great Zimbabwe monuments and other tourist attraction centres in Masvingo Province on Christmas Day. They comprised local and foreign nationals. The provincial museums and monuments director Mr Lovemore Mandima confirmed the development in an interview with The Herald yesterday.
“The Christmas Day saw more than 5 000 visitors touring our Great Zimbabwe monuments. Last year we had 2 000 people visiting the area during the same period. There is a marked improvement of visitors to the monuments. We even envisage a great improvement as the economy improves.
“When the economy improves as we all anticipate, we may be overwhelmed by the number of visitors,” he said. Mr Mandima said over 6 000 people also visited Tugwi-Mukosi Dam on Christmas while 1 000 went to Lake Kyle.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority provincial chairman Dr Fredrick Kasese said the increase showed the potential in the tourism sector.
“I think an upsurge in visits by both local and foreign visitors is a good sign that we can be a force to reckon with in the tourism sector as a province. Tugwi-Mukosi Dam is a tourist attraction even before putting any development like hotels, boat cruising activities and other establishments as spelt in the development plan,” said Dr Kasese.
He said tourism had potential to significantly contribute to the economy.
“Through effective utilisation of our monuments and water bodies that include Lake Mutirikwi and Manyuchi Dam in Mwenezi, we have the potential to contribute immensely to the provincial Gross Domestic Product (GDP),” said Dr Kasese.
Last year the Great Zimbabwe monuments recorded about 61 000 visitors.
About 70 percent of the visitors to the monuments were South Africans.
Online Reporter