Chronicle Editor
Sunday News Reporters
THE tourism and aviation sectors came under serious scrutiny at the just-ended 16th edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo for their pricing models that were described as exorbitant and not competitive.
This came up during an Aviation Development Conference which attracted more than 10 international airlines, Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ), Airports Company of Zimbabwe (ACZ), Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) as well as Government who discussed various issues with pricing and collaboration taking centre stage.
High flight prices within Zimbabwe have been identified as a significant hindrance to the growth of tourism. Currently, the cost of domestic flights can be prohibitive for many locals and potential tourists, making it difficult for the industry to flourish.
One of the panellists in the discussions Hospitality of Zimbabwe President Mr Farai Chimba spoke on the impact of high flight prices on tourism growth within Zimbabwe emphasising that affordable air travel plays a vital role in attracting visitors and fostering tourism development. He drew comparisons from destinations like Dubai who have gained popularity due to affordable flight options.
“We cannot assume just because have our natural wonders that people will just come. We have to draw into the aviation sector better pricing models through looking at the aspect of enablers, whether it is fuel or taxes at airports to lodges. We have competition and as such making it cheap enough for people to travel to the destination is an advantage.” You will see that most people go to Dubai because of its affordability.
“The pricing of the air tickets for example you can fly to Dubai for USD700 to USD800 for a return ticket. Why then must we fly for USD600 to Johannesburg? We have to keep abreast with those trends and see what is driving people to the top destinations and adjust accordingly,” said Mr Chimba.
Chief Commercial Officer at fastjet, a leading private player in the aviation space in Zimbabwe Ms Vivian Ruwuya said affordability is key while cost is a big driver of pricing.
“What we have to consider is what sort of cost does an airline incur. We have cost of fuel, taxes, spares, maintenance, resources and the cost of sales which play a key role in how we can price the destination and be able to have long-term sustainability of the destination. I do not think it would be fair if tomorrow we brought in a price that everybody is smiling about and three months later we say sorry it has not been sustainable, we can no longer operate,” said Ms Ruwuya.
Air Zimbabwe CEO Mr Edmund Makona said it was high time airlines pursue revenue streams in order to reduce ticket prices.
“The generation of alternative revenue streams was brought as a way to buttress fixed cost of airline as this would theoretically allow airline to lower ticket prices in order to make flying in the region and domestically cheaper.
Therefore it is needed for us to focus on generation of ancillary streams to support flying as most of our revenue can no longer be sustained by flying alone. When it comes to aviation we want to copy Ethiopian airlines which has created seven ancillary streams from the 5 billion earned last year 59 percent came from Cargo revenue. Air travel should no longer be purview of the elite,” said Mr Makona
Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe President Mr Wengai Nhau said the issue of pricing was topical. He said it reflects to the major structural challenges within the system of the value chain.
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu