Vusumuzi Dube
Judith Phiri, Business Reporter
Destination Zimbabwe Tourism delegation met with officials from Malaga Tourism from Spain at the ongoing World Travel Market (WTM) Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, to discuss possible areas of cooperation while exploring mutual interests between the two countries.
The meeting which took place on Monday, saw Zimbabwe led by the Zimbabwe Ambassador to South Africa, David Hamadziripi.
The Malaga team was represented by Spanish Foreign Affairs Ambassador for Expo2027, Ms Francisca Pedros, Deputy Mayor of Malaga for Technologies and Innovation, Ms Susana Carillo, Deputy Mayor of Malaga for Tourism and Human Resources, Mr Jacobo Florido and Director of Malaga Tourism Board, Mr Jonathan Gomez.
In a statement, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority said: “This important meeting was at the invitation of the Spanish delegation who are very keen to work with Zimbabwe on the “Road to 2027,” a partnership project focusing on inspiring African countries in which travel and tourism are key industries for the local economy with the aim of boosting African tourism from our international leadership.”
The tourism body said the Zimbabwe delegation outlined the objectives of its National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy anchored by the US$5 billion tourism economy goal and promotion strategies being undertaken by the Government in both domestic and international key source markets.
ZTA said Zimbabwe expressed keen interest to learn from the Malaga tourism management experiences and sustainable tourism development and management best practice among other areas such as Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) and organisation digital transformation.
Other areas were smart cities and urban tourism, development and devolution of tourism, organisation capacity building and knowledge transfer from a tourism perspective, as well as tourism innovation and creative industries.
Speaking after the meeting, Ambassador Hamadziripi said: “We had fruitful deliberations with the Malaga team. We are humbled that they are willing and ready to collaborate and cooperate with Zimbabwe among other African countries. What remains for us is to study their proposal and agree on areas of common interest and mutual benefits.”
It is anticipated that Malaga tourism initiative will go a long towards helping the tourism sector in Zimbabwe to contribute significantly to Vision 2030.
Online Reporter