Zimbabwe, Zambia ready to have UNTWO roar

ministers from the two countries told guests to Indaba 2013 in Durban yesterday.
At a briefing organised by the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi and the Zambia Deputy Minister of Tourism and Arts Mr David Phiri said both countries were on track in terms of preparations for the mega-tourism event that would be co-hosted by the two countries.

Minister Mzembi said that he had been overwhelmed with inquiries regarding the holding of elections in Zimbabwe and how it related to the holding of the UNWTO General Assembly.

“I have received so many questions regarding the holding of elections in Zimbabwe, but that is not my prerogative to say when elections are held. That is the prerogative of the President, so I cannot tell you when exactly.

“What I can tell you though is that elections will not be held during the week we are holding the general assembly.

“There is a message of hope and peace coming from the people of Zimbabwe and this is manifested in the successful constitution making process that is now in its final stages. The people have found each other and we are now moving ahead in the areas of politics and stability.”

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Minister Mzembi who has been at the Indaba 2013 since it opened last Saturday said that the country respected all the required constitutional processes and the country had never changed the Government through any other means besides the ballot.

He said that the hosting of the general assembly should not be looked at as a Zimbabwean or Zambian issue but in a pan African context that seeks to address the imbalances that have seen Africa benefiting a paltry three percent from the global tourism economy of US$1,3 trillion.

“Here is an excellent opportunity for Africa to interrogate the issues surrounding this dismal performance. We must now set the agenda and unless we address these issues we will continue to be side shows or worse still substitutes.

“We must look at how Africa remains on the fringes of global tourism and see how we can also benefit.”

He added that the focus should now be on job creation on the back of the growth of the tourism sector that had done well in other parts of the world.

“There is the issue of the perennial problems of national carriers and we seek to understand why all of them except maybe three on the continent are operating viably.

“It is difficult to run African airlines on a viable and profitable basis, so perhaps the regional approach is the way to go. We need to understand why they are sick all the time.”

Mr Phiri said that the Zambian Government had identified tourism as a key to diversification of the economy and the sector had recorded 12 percent growth in 2012 against a global figure of four percent.