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Thokozile Mbedzi, Business Reporter

BUDDING Beitbridge entrepreneur, Mr Harmony Kandawaswika, says the border district is home to several untapped tourism business opportunities that could create more job opportunities and contribute to national economic development.

His passion for the hospitality industry has driven him to establish a modern facility, Bako Lodge, in the border town, where he hopes to reap the spoils from the thousands of travellers passing through the port of entry and exit each day.

The new facility has executive and standard rooms while also offering restaurant and conferencing services to a diversity of clients including companies and other organisations.

It targets travellers crossing into South Africa or those on their way back home as well as local tourists coming in to visit different attractions around the border town.

The business has nine locally recruited workers, seven females, and two males.

“I have a passion for the hospitality industry and have started to invest in it because I saw that in Beitbridge there is a gap in the tourism business,” he said in an interview.

“Beitbridge receives a lot of visitors through the border and they proceed to other destinations. This business is there to accommodate our visitors who come in here as well as locals. They need to feel the comfort of our place and services.”

Through investing in the new facility, Mr Kandawaswika said he was eager to assist the country in job creation and contributing to economic transformation to realise an upper middle-income economy vision by 2030. He, however, could not be drawn to disclose the investment figures involved in his projects.

“I wish to put our hospitality industry to greater levels and have many more other buildings with increased capacity,” he said. 

Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has commended the re-launching of the South Africa Airways (SAA) route between Johannesburg and Victoria Falls saying this will increase the traffic into the country and promote the tourism recovery post-Covid-19.

Mr Godfrey Koti

SAA’s Airbus A319 landed at the Victoria Falls International Airport last week for the very first time since 2020 after suspended services due to the Covid-19 pandemic and financial difficulties.

ZTA’s head of corporate affairs, Godfrey Koti said they were excited by the development.

“South Africa Airways is going to increase a lot of traffic into the country. We are quite excited about the news and we definitely see this linking up with our national tourism recovery and growth strategy as we come out of the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

“We are looking forward to an improved inflow of tourists into this beautiful land and we are hoping to create more linkages with South African Airways as they seek to rebound from their business slumber.”

Zimbabwe continues to attract more airlines and recently Ethiopian Airlines made its inaugural flight at Joshua Nkomo International Airport, described as a big boost for Bulawayo as a tourism and investment destination.