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South African tourists buy curios along Fife Street near the Bulawayo City Hall in this file photo

Charity Ruzvidzo Business Reporter
The tourism and hospitality sector will contribute $5 billion to the Zimbabwean economy by 2020, a cabinet minister has said.
Speaking at the National Tourism Policy Launch in Harare recently, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Walter Mzembi said Zimbabwe’s tourism performance would be anchored at 30 percent of South Africa’s tourism performance.

“South Africa tourism economy’s turnover is at $12 billion from 10 million arrivals per annum. We are currently receipting $1 billion from 1.872 million arrivals.

“By 2020, we forecast the Republic of South Africa tourism economy to be exceeding $16 billion based on their current growth strategies,” he said.

Mzembi said there was a need to lure tourists visiting South Africa to Zimbabwe.

“We need to interrogate why at the least 30 percent of the Republic of South Africa’s bona fide 9.9 million international tourists do not take the extension visit to what used to be the 10th Tourism Province,” he said.

Mzembi also said sanctions imposed on the nation should not hinder the tourism sector from flourishing.

“We need to speak politically to these markets beyond the initiative of industry and our tourism authorities. There was clearly a deliberate political effort to keep Rhodesia alive during its biting sanctions. Is it the case today as history repeats itself with Zimbabwe under sanctions,” he said.

The Minister said plans to work with China were in the pipeline.

“We should demand or negotiate from our ‘all weather friend’ China by 2020, 5 percent of their outbound travel.  If we commence next year with a target of 0.5 percent it will translate into 1 million visitors and $750 million in receipts respectively,” he said.

In his policy enablers, Mzembi said there was a need to redefine the tourism product and redesignate the entire country as a tourism development zone.

He also said focus should be on special tourism economic zones commencing with a 274 hectare mixed use development Park in Victoria Falls.