ZTA conducts room survey

Lovemore Zigara, Midlands Correspondent
ZIMBABWE Tourism Authority (ZTA) has started updating its data base for accommodation, tourist attractions and activities on offer in the Midlands province.

Midlands has had a remarkable expansion in hospitality facilities with demand being driven mainly by the mining and agricultural sectors, which are the backbone of the province’s economy.

Speaking during a Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) Midlands Chapter meeting recently ZTA area manager for Midlands province Ms Lizzie Murandu said the survey to determine the number of hotel and lodge rooms will help market the province as a tourism destination.

“We need to know as a province the number of beds we have. Then there is need to further break this down to determine how many standard and executive rooms we have,” she said.

“We need to vigorously market the province as a tourist destination and for this to happen we need to know activities and attractions that are offered by different players in the province. I am therefore appealing to hotel operators and other players in the hospitality sector to come forward with information so that we can achieve our objectives.”

Ms Murandu said there are efforts to promote the Midlands province as a conferencing destination due to its geographical centrality.

HAZ Midlands Chapter representative Mrs Busi Musengi said players in the province are still facing various challenges, which include poor quality of local products especially fruits.

“We have challenges to do with the quality of products, which we use as hospitality players that have somehow compromised our standards especially the quality of fruits. We use to import these but since Statutory Instrument 64 of 2016 came into force we have not been able to do that,” she said.

Mrs Musengi said they are in the process of compiling some of their challenges for onward transmission to Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mrs Prisca Mupfumira.