Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter
THE Bulawayo Publicity Association (BPA) plans to scale up its marketing programmes to increase publicity on the city’s tourism potential and attracting travellers to different destinations in surrounding districts.

Established more than 80 years ago, BPA provides personal information service to enquirers about Bulawayo.

In an interview yesterday, the publicity association’s director, Mrs Valerie Bell, said they have applied for a $15 000 loan to Bulawayo City Council to support their activities.

“Instead of us going to the bank to say lend us $15 000, we have approached the city council for a loan, which we are going to pay back,” said Mrs Bell.

“The publicity association is being revitalised and the tourism board (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority) officials were here on Tuesday and have said they are impressed with the work we are doing in promoting Bulawayo. Depending on our projects, they want to give us a grant so that we can promote our area,” she said, adding “they have promised us a good grant”.

Mrs Bell said BPA lost a “significant” amount of money after a secretary at the association Jackie Kennedy, who is on the run, allegedly stole a significant amount of money at the non-profit making organisation. Despite the misfortune, Mrs Bell said: “We are well and alive. The association is not closing down.

We have revived our marketing promotional sub-committee and this will see us being part of the rebranding programme, which seeks to market Bulawayo and Zimbabwe at large by the tourism board.”

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) has unveiled $15 million tourism development support facility to fund activities by players in the tourism sector including publicity associations dotted across the country.

It is hoped that the tourism development support fund would be released by Government through the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA). Against this background, BPA was in the process of developing various projects aimed at promoting and marketing Bulawayo and the surrounding districts to the outside world.

ZTA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, has embarked on a rebranding campaign of Zimbabwe as a tourism destination using digital marketing platform. The Government and the tourism authority have also collaborated in developing a National Tourism Sector Strategy (NTSS), with ZTA holding countrywide consultative workshop on the development of the strategy.  The NTSS seeks to help the country’s tourism sector to unlock its potential for growth by identifying key strategies to guide the industry. At present, Zimbabwe does not have a tourism sector strategy.  — @okazunga.

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