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Adelaide Moyo Business Reporter—
TOURISM operators in Victoria Falls have bemoaned the fall in the value of the South African rand saying the performance of the domestic industry has been subdued. Hoteliers and tour operators said the number of visitors coming from South Africa into the resort town is declining. Safari Lodge general manager Jonathan Hudson said tourism has become more expensive for South Africans because of the weakening of the Rand.
“The rand has lost 30 percent of its value and regional tourism has become a lot more expensive on South Africans. This has been a huge benefit to them because South Africa has become a cheap tourism destination. The decline in tourists from South Africa has not only affected tour operators in Victoria Falls but the strain is quite huge nationally,” Hudson said.
He said most hotels and tour operators were concentrating on special packages to continue attracting domestic and regional tourists. “Most hotels are putting local and regional specials to ensure that the arrival of tourists will not be greatly strained. We’ve relied on the regional market for years and we’ll continue with the specials to attract more and to keep the numbers stable,” he said.
Khanondo Safaris general manager Ben Tessa said South Africa is a huge market to the tourism sector in Zimbabwe. “Some companies have banned the rand and this has affected our tourists as the numbers have gone down and all rates are in US$ making the situation worse. The tourism sector in South Africa is benefiting from outbound tourism on the other hand,” Tessa said.
Chairperson of the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) Trythings Mutyandasvika said there was need for players in the tourism industry to come up with rates specifically meant for the people from South Africa. “The spending power of people using the rand has eroded and there is a general need to come up with special packages meant for people who are the worst affected by the situation,” he said.
Shearwater Adventures group public relations manager Clement Mukwasi also said the spending power of people using the rand has been reduced.
“The number of tourists using the rand has greatly decreased. We’ll try our best as tour operators to accommodate those people so that our arrivals aren’t affected. On the other hand, we might be struggling getting tourists from South Africa but their tourism sector has boomed as the weaker rand makes it cheaper for tourists using other currencies,” he said. Recently, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi said the weakening rand was having an adverse impact on tourist arrivals as a 15 percent decline has been noted in the last few months.
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