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Ruth Butaumocho African Tapestry
On July 2, 2015, animal conservationists, local and international media woke up to news of the killing of a 13-year-old lion, Cecil.
The killing sparked outrage among conservationists, who could only shake their heads in disbelief after such a “miscalculated” hunt by Walter Palmer, an American dentist and recreational big-game hunter.
Cecil was a major attraction to the park and was being studied and tracked by a research team from the University of Oxford.
Some animal conservationists described Cecil the Lion as “the beloved lion”.
For some locals, news that Cecil the Lion, a major attraction to the Hwange National Park had been killed probably went unnoticed because they could not relate to the carnivore, let alone visualise the daily activities in Hwange National Park.
Many still wonder how many people in Matabeleland North Province or better still in Hwange might have had an opportunity to marvel at Cecil’s antics during its short, but well lived life.
Given the opportunity, many locals would have wanted to revel in Cecil’s unparalleled record, resources permitting. Without any adjustments and concession for local tourists, that visit would probably have cost them a leg and a limb.
Cecil’s narrative comes against the backdrop of reports that the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) and its partners have embarked on an aggressive drive to promote local travel and tour packages to boost tourism.
According to ZTA, the domestic tourism promotion drive seeks to showcase low and high end products with special emphasis on encouraging the industry to service the middle-income market.
The nation hopes there is sincerity in the push to boost the promotion of domestic tourism, which has been struggling despite concerted efforts to promote it.
Domestic tourism refers to travelling within one’s country for the purpose of leisure or pleasure.
Zimbabwe boasts internationally highly-rated tourist destinations that include, but not limited to the Victoria Falls, the Eastern Highlands, Kariba, National Parks, Great Zimbabwe, Balancing Rocks (Domboramwari) and Matobo Hills.
Despite an avalanche of tourist destinations that have put Zimbabwe on the international map, a significant portion of locals have not been able to visit. A sizeable number of Zimbabweans have not visited local resorts, even within their provinces, due to travel headaches, pricey accommodation and other costs.
Prices at most resorts are modelled to cater for the international traveller, pricing out the local tourist.
Piqued local tourists find it cheaper to holiday in neighbouring countries like South Africa, Malawi and Mozambique where tourism packages are relatively cheaper.
The current pricing model remains the bane of domestic tourism, which has the potential to boost the sector once a proper model has been put in place to ensure that most people can afford to plan and budget for a holiday.
If done properly, domestic tourism is a low-hanging fruit.
It is actually the main driving force of tourism in major economies.
According to the World Travel and Tourism, in 2017, domestic tourism represented 73 percent of the total global tourism spend (US$3,971 billion).
While the figures varied with each country during the same year, domestic contributions to travel and tourism shot up to 94 percent in Brazil and 87 percent in India.
In countries like Germany, Argentina and China, domestic tourism accounted for 62 percent of global growth in domestic spending over the past 10 years.
As a result, this growth has enabled China to climb from fourth position in 2008 to the top spot in 2017, overtaking the USA to become the largest domestic travel market in the world, while earning the Asian country a whopping US$841 billion in 2017.
While arguments might arise on the success story of domestic tourism, it is clear that the existence of domestic tourists in all these nations should be inspirational enough to come up with a policy to promote and boost domestic tourism.
One of the critical elements in promoting domestic tourism is ensuring that players in travel and tourism come up with a pricing regime for locals, while maintaining the current prices for international tourists.
In essence, a two-tier system will result in different pricing for domestic and foreign tourists. By coming up with such a pricing system, Zimbabweans will be able to patronise local holiday destinations more, while at the same time guaranteeing growth and expansion of key enabling infrastructure required to boost economic development as jobs are created and disposable income increases.
With time, locals, will learn, appreciate and safeguard their own Cecils once they interface with tourism resorts in their own areas and communities.
It promotes a sense of ownership among locals.
The private sector could also bolster domestic tourism by offering travel incentives to their workforce in terms of off days from work, to open and create opportunities for locals who want to go on holiday.
Having seen the enthusiasm that locals have shown in exploring domestic resorts, players in travel and tourism can also incentivise travellers by offering prepaid or pay after visit packages that can be supported at institutional level.
In our efforts to promote the mantra that Zimbabwe is open for business, players in the travel and tourism industry should harness existing opportunities in domestic tourism by coming up with holiday packages to cater for the discerning local traveller.
Online Reporter