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Walter Nyamukondiwa Chinhoyi Bureau
Government is finalising the Tourism Master Plan, which seeks to promote domestic and international tourism, a senior Government official has said. In an interview in Chinhoyi last week, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Prisca Mupfumira said the master plan would be launched next month.
Government is considering revamping provincial publicity and information centres that archive critical data on areas of interest for tourists in any given province. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has already released $100 000 for the development of a tourism site specialising in wildlife in Tsholotsho.
UNWTO has also promised to continuously provide technical and financial support for the development and strengthening of domestic tourism products. Minister Mupfumira said the plan sought to decentralise tourism development to the country’s respective provinces.
“We want to encourage domestic tourism so that we do not rely solely on international tourists,” she said. “For domestic tourism, we are saying we want to revamp publicity information centres in the provinces so that development of tourism happens at provincial level.
“This means that every province has potential for tourism with what they have.” Government is spearheading the development of provincial brands that look at salient tourism, cultural and social aspects to feed into the national brand. Minister Mupfumira said pricing of domestic tourism products had always been a hindrance to the development of the sector.
“There is the issue of the prices that people are supposed to pay at the tourism sites, which is too high for the average person,” she said.
“We are working with colleagues in other ministries to see how the prices can be reduced to manageable levels. Like now, fuel has gone down and we expect the prices of hotels and other products also coming down.” Government, she said, will also come up with incentives targeting special groups, including pensioners, the elderly and civil servants to encourage them to travel around Zimbabwe.
The ministry is also spearheading an ongoing survey to quantify the level of understanding of travel and tourism among the ordinary people. There are plans to erect a shrine at the Battle of Chinhoyi site, where the first shots of the Second Chimurenga were fired.
“We want, first of all, to validate the site so that we build a shrine,” said Minister Mupfumira. “We have done that already in Masvingo, where President Emmerson Mnangagwa blew up a train. We want to do the same also for the Seven Heroes’ Site.”
Online Reporter