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Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel

Oliver Kazunga Senior Business Reporter
HOTELS and up-market lodges in Bulawayo are fully booked ahead of this year’s Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) exhibition, which starts next week.

The prestigious annual event begins at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre in Bulawayo on April 28 and runs until May 2 under the theme, “Stimulating Exports: Seizing Opportunities to Accelerate Growth under Zim-Asset”.

A snap survey carried by Business Chronicle yesterday revealed that hotels in the city would be 100 percent full during the annual trade showcase period.

Bulawayo Rainbow general manager Fungai Mutseyekwa said his hotel was full by January adding that they were not taking bookings for the trade fair.

“We’re fully booked and at the moment we don’t have more space to book additional visitors to this year’s trade fair.

“As you might be aware, Bulawayo Rainbow is the only hotel in the city with a presidential suite, our visitors for the trade fair comprise very important people from in and outside the country,” he said.

An official from Cresta Churchill who preferred anonymity said they were fully booked.

During the trade fair scores of exhibitors and visitors usually find it difficult to find accommodation as hotels and lodges run out of rooms.

Private homes usually take advantage of the accommodation challenges during exhibitions to charge high rentals to desperate visitors.

An official at Munda Lodge, Simplicity Dube also said they were fully booked for the duration of the ZITF period.

Bulawayo Holiday Inn general manager Chiku Mulinde could not comment saying he needed clearance from their head office in Harare.

However, an official from the hotel’s reservations who preferred not to be named confirmed they were fully booked.

The ZITF Company has said it has temporarily shelved plans to construct its proposed 300-bed hotel and conventional centre as it could not readily find a willing investor to partner in the project.

It is hoped that construction of the hotel by the ZITF Company would go a long way in addressing accommodation challenges during the trade fair.

In 2010, Bulawayo City Council gave the trade fair firm the nod to construct the infrastructure on a piece of land close to the Bulawayo Golf Club.

Zambian president Edgar Lungu will officially open this year’s trade fair next week Thursday.