UNWTO General Assembly: Now is the time to prepare

and portray an ultra-positive image, for the entire world will be watching us.
This is the second time in the history of UNWTO, that Africa is hosting the mega event that brings together delegates – including Heads of State and Government, ministers and tourism gurus – from 176 countries.
The only other time the UNWTO General Assembly was held in Africa was in Senegal in 2007.
Last Tuesday’s endorsement of the co-hosting bid by Cabinet is a welcome development that should kick-start a series of meetings and infrastructure developments that are a prerequisite to the proper hosting of the event.
More importantly, the Cabinet endorsement makes the hosting of the event a national issue, effectively making it mandatory for Treasury to fund the process.
In short, the endorsement was long awaited by the tourism industry.
It is equally important to note that this is, and still remains, the greatest opportunity in the near future, for Zimbabwe to prove to the world that it is a very competent member of the global community and not a pariah or rogue state, incapable of hosting a world event.
Equally important too, is taking advantage of this event to have a wholesome endorsement of the tourism national brand – Zimbabwe a World of Wonders – which underpins the country’s endeavour to retain its global tourism haven status.
Zimbabwe will require huge financial resources for the construction of a convention centre, shopping mall, upgrading of Victoria Falls and Harare International airports, completion of Joshua Nkomo International Airport in Bulawayo and refurbishment and construction of hotels and other structures.
From previous experience of the last UNTWO held in South Korea last year, funding is also critically required for rehabilitation of roads, fuel supply infrastructure, adequate clean and safe water supply, health care, development of a theme park, broadband and information communication technology facilities.
Taking into consideration the fact that this is the first time that the UWTO General Assembly has been co-hosted, a lot needs to be done in dealing with the cross-border traffic of delegates, visa regime, pricing regime, transport, communication, accreditation and security.
It goes without saying that merging two systems of governance into one security or transport or communication system, requires a lot of patience, time and skill.
Yes, we might be neighbours but the time to move is now and the time to activate all the required systems is also now and not tomorrow.
Finally, the two countries should enlist the services of experts from former hosts and they should be easy to get since the UNWTO has offered many people who assisted Senegal.