Women in Tourism hails Women’s Bank

Locadia Mavhudzi Midlands Correspondent
Women in the tourism sector are strategically positioning themselves to tap into new opportunities that will be opening up as a result of the recently opened Women’s Microfinance Bank.

Women in Tourism secretary Mrs Pedia Matamisa said they were resuscitating the Women in Tourism Association in anticipation of accessing loans to grow their businesses.

“We are excited about the opening of the women’s bank, hence the zeal to regroup and position ourselves to derive maximum benefit, she said.

“Our businesses were failing to thrive due to lack of funds. Now that we have a financial institution targeting us, we see this as a step in the right direction.”

Mrs Matamisa said women constituted the largest number in the tourism sector as support stuff, adding that it was high time they became owners of businesses.

“Tourism is a female dominated business in terms of workforce, but the owners are largely male, she said. While most women serve as low grade personnel, extreme cases have seen some of them going unpaid, especially in family businesses and therefore the need for us to become employers too.”

Mrs Matamisa urged her fellow women to embrace entrepreneurship and start their own businesses.

“Women should come to know that tourism is not all about large game parks, large hotels, large restaurants and large tourism resorts but the small-scale industry that can be operated in one’s villages,” she said.

Mrs Matamisa said the small scale players in the hospitality sector were forced to close shop over the past decade owing to viability challenges but the new political dispensation is promising to resuscitate the industry.

“We have been sidelined for long and majority have closed shop. In this new era, we anticipate women’s businesses to dominate and transform the economy,” she said.

Mrs Matamisa emphasised on the need for tourism players to adopt the use of information communication technologies for ease of doing business.

“These days you cannot separate ICTs from tourism, she said. The hospitality industry should use ICTs to aggressively market their products. We are also looking into branding and packaging our services as regional groups so as to attract multiple customers.”