adminFUTURE inquiries from international markets are down amid revelations that the tourism industry is set to lose an undisclosed amount in revenue in the coming year due to the Ebola media hype that has led to massive cancellations by groups in the source market, Sunday Business can reveal.
Despite the country not having reported any Ebola cases, Zimbabwe is being affected by the international community’s perception of Africa as one big country, which has led to the destination being viewed as a risk.
In separate interviews, hoteliers and tour operators around the country have expressed fear that the sector would not realise the anticipated growth next year due to these cancellations.
In his 2015 budget presentation, Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa reiterated that the Ebola outbreak in parts of Africa posed a threat to attainment of the projected growth and overall socio-economic performance of the tourism sector.
“Accordingly, the 2015 National Budget also prioritises support for the necessary countrywide awareness and preparedness activities mitigating against the Ebola epidemic,” said Minister Chinamasa.
Stanley and Livingstone general manager Mr Vincent Makamure said most cancellations that they were facing were coming from people who travel in groups making the situation even more critical.
“The problem we are facing is that the international community regards Africa as one country and the reports that we have been getting said that if Ebola is not contained by January to February, tourists will be cancelling the whole year next year,” said Mr Makamure.
Speaking on the trends of groups, Mr Makamure said they usually receive groups in February consisting of about 26 people who arrive on Wednesday and depart Saturday about three to four times a month, usually until mid December.
However, this year the groups stopped coming into the country early November.
Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) Victoria Falls chapter chairman Mr Jonathan Hudson said there was evidence that the reports on Ebola were affecting the sector as some operators had received about 30 percent of cancellations with most coming from the Asian market.
Mr Hudson said the most cancellations recorded this year were in October and November while for 2015 they were in February and March.
“It is true that the Ebola media hype has affected us tremendously and we are working with relevant Government ministries like the Health and Tourism ministries as well as the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and individual companies to manage these perceptions and ensure that we educate people on where Zimbabwe is located and just how far we are from the affected areas,” said Mr Hudson.
He said certain countries in Europe and America were actually closer to the African countries affected by Ebola than Southern Africa states and Zimbabwe in particular. According to a South African report, in September, South Africa lost close to R421 000 in bookings.
Zimbabwe has not yet managed to compile statistical evidence on the effects of Ebola. A survey of 500 safari tour operators in South Africa conducted by SafariBookings.com found that half of the operators were experiencing 20 percent to 70 percent less bookings due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
“During October we completed only four bookings as opposed to an average of 30 bookings per month,” said one SA operator.
ZTA chief operating officer Mr Givemore Chidzidzi said the authority was in the process of assessing the actual impact of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
We have been going about coming out clean to say we are very far away from where Ebola cases are,” said Mr Chidzidzi.
He challenged the tourism industry players to come out so that they can quantify that everything that is happening was Ebola related and so that empirical evidence could be compiled on which bookings had been lost and how much it all amounted to.
The sector is projected to grow by 4,7 percent in 2015, compared to 3,9 percent in 2014. This translates into tourist arrivals of about 2,1 million in 2015 from two million in 2014.
For the hotel business, the average room occupancy is expected to close the year at 53 percent and is anticipated to rise to 54 percent in 2015. Consequently, bed occupancies are also expected to increase to 38,5 percent in 2015, from 38 percent in 2014.
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