Chronicle Editor
Judith Phiri, Features Reporter
ZIMBABWE, one of Africa’s most beautiful countries, continues to witness growth in the tourism sector that gradually made a comeback following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The tourism sector is considered one of the country’s economic mainstays and is expected to drive the country’s economic turnaround.
Through the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, the Government seeks to grow the tourism economy to US$5 billion by 2025.
President Mnangagwa launched the tourism growth strategy in 2020 as a re-start of the sector’s contribution to the national economy after having been heavily crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic disruptions.
In line with the strategy, the Government has made significant strides to ensure Zimbabwe becomes a prime international tourist destination based on the judicious and sustainable exploitation of the unique assets of nature, culture, heritage and the built environment.
The tourism sector is significantly contributing to the Government’s Vision 2030 to become an upper-middle-income economy.
The Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) has said the tourism sector witnessed a massive boost during the festive season spurred on by an increase in domestic tourism.
Holidays during the festive season were Unity Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
In an interview, TBCZ president Mr Wengayi Nhau said they were impressed with the traffic to the country’s major tourism destinations during the holidays.
“The 2023 festive season was quite unprecedented in terms of the traffic that we experienced in different parts of the country in the holiday resorts and even in the city establishments where we normally would have very low occupancy levels. We generally had an eventful festive season ending 2023 going into 2024,” said Mr Nhau.
He said domestic tourism played a key role as families that are based locally and those coming from outside the country to visit their families, relatives and friends visited some holiday resorts during the festive season.
Mr Nhau said as a sector, they visited different parts of the country, especially the borders and airports to assess the situation on the ground during the holidays.
“It was unbelievable the amount of traffic that we saw of people coming into the country. These were Zimbabweans in the diaspora coming home for the holidays to be with their families. It also afforded them time to travel to different parts of the country and along the way making stops or visiting key destinations and attractions. “We had reports of good bookings in most of the traditional holiday resorts such as Victoria Falls, Hwange, Great Zimbabwe, Nyanga and Kariba among others,” he said.
Mr Nhau said the launch of the Festive Season Domestic Campaign — #ZIMBHO by the Government was a good encouragement for locals to sample some of the natural wonders in the country.
The campaign, which runs from 6 November to 15 January aims at encouraging locals to travel within the country’s tourism destinations.
Through the campaign dubbed #Uripi/Ungaphi, the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) encouraged locals to sample the various tourism products offered by tourism players across the country.
During the launch of the campaign in different provinces, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Barbara Rwodzi urged Zimbabweans to prioritise exploring the scenic splendour of their country to promote domestic tourism as opposed to going on holiday in other countries.
“Zimbabweans including those in the diaspora, should lead in consuming local tourism products offered at the different tourist destinations across the country,” said Minister Rwodzi.
She said foreigners were enjoying Zimbabwe’s tourism products in tourist destinations such as Masvingo where there is the Gonarezhou National Park and Great Zimbabwe Monuments among other attractions.
President Mnangagwa, on his annual leave, during the first week of the month, visited the scenic World’s View in Nyanga with his family in line with the Government’s thrust to promote domestic tourism.
World’s View is a spectacular vista on the escarpment of the Nyanga Downs plateau in the Eastern Highlands, just north of Nyanga, in eastern Zimbabwe at an altitude of 2 248 metres with a 600m drop to the plain below on the western side.
Writing on his X handle (formerly Twitter), President Mnangagwa said he was impressed by the increase in both domestic and foreign tourists visiting the country’s attractions.
A video posted on X shows the President and First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa being greeted by a crowd through song and dance at a shopping centre.
Minister Rwodzi thanked the First Family for promoting domestic tourism.
“Uripi, Ungaphi, Unani, ZimBho kuInyanga neFirst Family. We are happy the First Family supported our ZimBho Campaign,” she said on her X handle.
The minister who also went around the country calling on Zimbabweans to visit their own tourist attractions, on Christmas Day was in the Matopos, mixing and mingling with domestic and international tourists.
Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) president, Mr Brian Nyakutombwa who is also the Montclair Hotel and Casino general manager, told this publication that the festive season was indeed a hive of activity.
“This was particularly in the resort areas spread around the country compared to city hotels and lodges which are traditionally quiet as people prefer to explore the open country. The traffic was mainly from Zimbabweans based locally together with their folks from the diaspora,” he said.
“The resort hotels and lodges that were patronised had various entertainment activities lined up for the holidayers and there was something for both the young and the old.”
Mr Nyakutombwa said a lot of credit goes to the efforts underway to promote domestic tourism by the parent Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and ZTA.
He expressed hope that the practice of visiting tourist attractions by Zimbabweans is going to be entrenched and become a new culture as it was good for the economy and well-being of the citizens as well.
Another sub-sector in tourism that is on a massive growth trajectory is the country’s safari and hunting industry with projections showing its revenue levels are set to revert to the pre-Covid-19 pandemic levels by the end of this year.
The industry reported to have lost US$100 million in revenue per year in 2020 and 2021, went on a rebound in 2022 following the opening up of global markets and relaxed travel restrictions owing to reduced Covid-19 pandemic infections.
In 2023, the safari and hunting industry began to witness positive performance with revenue gradually picking up.
Traditionally, the industry is dependent on international tourists, with many coming from the United States of America (USA) among other countries.
Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe (SOAZ) president Dr Emmanuel Fundira who recently visited Dallas, Texas and Nashville in Tennessee both in the USA to market the country said the industry has also witnessed increased investment in conservation.
“The safari and hunting industry has registered considerable growth post-Covid-19 period and has been further boosted by increased investment into conservation. With this kind of trajectory experienced, we expect to have more than equal revenue levels to pre-Covid-19 levels by the end of 2024,” he said.
Dr Fundira said in 2022, the industry had to slowly move from a zero-base post-Covid-19 pandemic and was on a rebound in 2023, while it was promising that this year it would fully recover to get back to pre-Covid-19 levels where it was doing extremely well and contributing close to US$100 million towards the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
He said there has been quite a bit of push and incentives from all sorts of angles to ensure that the same industry can be able to return to its former glory.
In Zimbabwe, safari operators often attract high-spending hunters. The country offers hunts for animals including, elephant, buffalo, lion and leopard.
In addition to paying for the licence to track them down, tourists pay professional hunters to guide them. Elephants make up the bulk of the nation’s hunting licences, according to the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority.
Key to the growth of the tourism sector has also been massive infrastructure development being implemented by the Government under the Second Republic such as the rehabilitation of the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport to world-class standards and also the Victoria Falls International Airport that is now playing host to several world-acclaimed international airlines.
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