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“As you might know the forum was attended by delegates from various sectors including government institutions, academia, buyers and the private sector. The need to prioritise the tourism sector for funding was cited. This is largely in view of shortage of capital, risk of borrowing and lack of sector specific banks,” he said.
To mitigate these challenges, Mr Kaseke said ZTA would engage the Bankers Association of Zimbabwe and the Government to reintroduce the tourism revolving fund.
The revolving fund was introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe in 2007.
He said due to lack of funding, Zimbabwe’s tourism industry was seriously lagging behind in terms of electronic commerce.
“This has impacted negatively on the growth of tourism. As the nation continues to advance the development of a positive destination image, the lack of a national vision exposes us. Tourism is the only sub-sector of the national brand that successfully rebranded. Tourism doesn’t function outside other sub sectors like investment, culture, trade and governance.”
Mr Kaseke said ZTA was pleased that during this year’s 5th edition of Sanganai/Hlanganani fair, a new tourism product called Township Tourism was launched in Harare’s Highfield suburb by the tourism patron Vice President Joice Mujuru.
“The ZTA is already seized with this matter (township tourism) and will work with relevant government departments and stakeholders and make sure that the programme spreads to other provinces.
“Township tourism will be fully integrated in the mainstream tourism economy. The initiative will be driven by the ZTA but will involve a number of entrepreneurs as well as ministries like Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment. ZTA will also work with the National Museums and Monuments, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe. We already have MOUs with these institutions.”
He said their focus in Highfield was on history and heritage adding that they would enshrine the former houses of the country’s nationalists.
“The nationalist movements and the subsequent liberation struggle are part of our rich history and that is also part of our wonder number two in terms of our tourism brand. We now want to link our rich history to economics for the benefit of the national economy,” he said.
Online Reporter