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Minister Walter Mzembi

Business Reporter
THE Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry will conduct a survey on tourist visits into the country starting this month paving the way for the introduction of a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA).

TSA will be used to measure tourism performance and its contribution to the national economy.

Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi said TSA has the ability to collate all tourism elements, which are imbedded in other sectors of the economy and curb leakages.

“As a country, we’re now taking positive steps to introduce a TSA in Zimbabwe. With a TSA in place both the government and the private sector will be better equipped to make informed decisions, design policies and strategies for tourism development and improvements,” he said.

Minister Mzembi said as part of this process the Visitor Exit Survey (VES) will be carried out over 12 months starting in July and it is funded by the African Development Bank.

VES is a sample designed to obtain detailed information on various characteristics of visitors to Zimbabwe.

“The survey will give strategic information on tourism characteristics including visitors’ trends, destination perceptions and we get clear understanding of product preferences by visitors. By so doing, we’ll be able to understand areas that need attention from the visitors’ point of view,” he said.

Minister Mzembi said such information cannot be obtained through the usual “embarkation” (immigration declaration form) forms and “disembarkation” (exit card) cards, which visitors complete on entry and exit.

The survey, he said, involves personal interviews with randomly selected visitors as they leave the country at selected exit points.

“The survey is to be conducted at the following ports of exit, Harare International Airport, Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport, Victoria Falls International Airport, Victoria Falls border, Beitbridge border, Chirundu border, Forbes (Mutare) border, Nyamapanda border, Kazungula border and Plumtree border,” he said.

The information obtained is targeted at providing invaluable input to the development of effective marketing strategies and business decision making by tourism operators, as well as policy formulation and tourism development planning by the government.

“Personal interviews will be conducted with a sample of visitors departing Zimbabwe. The survey design has a randomly selected sample of 25,000 visitors and is stratified by departure points to ensure adequate representation of the main source markets of visitors to Zimbabwe,” said Minister Mzembi.

He said the target respondents would be visitors leaving Zimbabwe and requested their support for the programme by cooperating with the interviewers who will be stationed monthly at the ports of entry.

The upcoming VES would be the fifth to be conducted in Zimbabwe since Independence.

“At this juncture I call upon members of the travelling public to cooperate whenever they come across our teams in the field to ensure the success of the survey and the nation as a whole,” Minister Mzembi said.