admin
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) head of corporate affairs Mr Sugar Chagonda said the country had been experiencing a significant recovery in the sector with the number of tourist arrivals increasing.
“Although the figures for the first half of the year are not yet out, I can confirm that there is improvement in the sector especially looking at the year-to-year figures,” said Mr Chagonda.
He said Zimbabwe’s tourism sector had registered phenomenal growth in recent years and had overtaken agriculture to become the second largest contributor to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) after mining.
“We are very happy and encouraged by the response the tourism sector is receiving and hope it will continue playing a pivotal role in the country’s GDP,” he said.
Mr Chagonda said all provinces in the country were crucial to the development of tourism and urged relevant authorities to promote tourist products in their areas.
“As ZTA, we wish to advance tourism in the region and be at par with international tourism trends. All provinces in the country are crucial to the development of tourism especially domestic,” said Mr Chagonda.
He said the bulk of tourists arriving in the country during the first half of the year were businesspeople and families who had come for holidays.
One of the major challenges the sector was facing was limited access to some tourist destinations in the country but Mr Chagonda said they were engaging relevant authorities in a bid to address this.
“One of the major challenges we are facing is limited access to some destinations and this usually inconveniences tourists. We are working flat out to improve this for the convenience of our tourists,” said Mr Chagonda.
Online Reporter