admin
Herald Reporter
Zimbabwe is marketing its tourist attraction centres in Italy at the ongoing International Tourism Exchange (BIT) Milan.
BIT is Italy and one of Europe’s leading travel shows.
It opened on February 12 at the Fiera Milano Exhibition Centre in Milan, and will end today.
BIT invites travel agencies, tour operators and tourist boards, in one place to exchange experiences and shape the face of travel for the upcoming year.
Zimbabwe is represented at BIT by Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Deputy Minister Barbara Rwodzi.
She is accompanied by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Chief Operations Officer Mr Givemore Chidzidzi and Principal Tourism Officer in the Ministry, Mr Milton Kupenya.
BIT International Tourism Exchange offers both business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) networking opportunities targeting Italian leading travel trade and consumer outbound travel operators.
In addition to confirming itself as the world’s first marketplace for the Italian products, BIT 2023 has brought together a wide representation of supply chains under one roof, including global tourism ministries, national tourism organisations, private sector operators, tourism buyers and consumers.
The first day of the show was open to the general travelling public while yesterday and today are reserved for trade and professional visitors only.
Italy is a market which cannot be ignored by any destination, including Zimbabwe, as it features among the top 20 generating countries in the world. During the pre-pandemic period (2015-2019), arrivals to Zimbabwe from the Italian market grew from 9 042 in 2015 to 14 541 in 2019.
Following the outbreak of Covid-19 and its attendant restrictions, arrivals from Italy into Zimbabwe plunged to 406 in 2021.
But in the post-pandemic period, arrivals from Italy have registered a positive growth of 1 579 percent after 6 411 tourist arrivals were recorded in 2022, compared to 406 tourist arrivals in 2021.
This makes Italy the fastest recovering market for Zimbabwe.
Italian Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè opened at the official opening of the BIT 2023.
The ribbon cutting ceremony was attended by hundreds of delegates from different subsectors of tourism and the media, to mark the first time the show is being held face-to-face after the two-year Covid-19 occasioned break.
Speaking during the ministerial roundtable under the theme, “Tourism, people and territories, 2030 and beyond, the tourism and Sustainable Development Goals”, Deputy Minister Rwodzi said in support of SDG 5 (Gender Empowerment through Tourism), in 2021, Zimbabwe introduced the African Traditional Cuisine (cook-out) initiative spearheaded by First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa.
The cook-out initiative is an opportunity for women to showcase indigenous and nutritious foods, whilst participating in mainstreaming tourism activities.
Zimbabwe is now promoting that noble initiative across SADC starting this year.
Deputy Minister Rwodzi added that the Government had also taken a keen interest in developing Community-Based Tourism (CBTE) Projects as a vehicle to alleviate poverty in rural and marginalised communities, in line with SDG 1 of eliminating poverty.
The Government has packaged communities through their history, tradition, daily life, arts and craft, flora and fauna, as unique selling points in communities, and CBTEs. CBTEs present Government with opportunities to enhance national tourism competitiveness, alleviation of poverty, environmental conservation and the preservation of local culture and heritage.
The BIT Exchange is also being attended by The Gambian Minister of Tourism Hamat Bah, Zimbabwe’s top diplomat to Italy, Ambassador Mietani Chauke, Honorary Consulate of Namibia Dr Petter Johannesen, Ministers of Tourism from Sierra Lionne, Sri Lanka, Tunisia and others.
Online Reporter