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Oliver Kazunga, Senior Business Reporter

THE Bulawayo Publicity Association (BPA) is set to represent the City of Kings at this year’s Africa Travel Show for the first time in 10 years.

The show, which is Africa’s premier travel event, will be held in Durban, South Africa from May 2 to 4. In an interview, BPA marketing officer Mr Moreblessings Tshuma said the publicity association has not been participating at the Africa Travel Show since 2008 due to the economic hardships the country was reeling under.

“There is the Africa Travel Indaba that will be happening in Durban, South Africa from the 2nd to the 4th of May. As BPA we decided to attend representing Bulawayo and as we go we are not representing the Bulawayo Publicity Association but the city as a whole from all aspects in terms of tourism, business and industry with a view of attracting investment into the city,” he said.

Mr Tshuma said the return at the prime tourism indaba this year will accord them an opportunity to market the city in various sectors of the economy in order to restore it to its former glory. He said in terms of tourism from their analysis Bulawayo has in the past two years recorded an improvement in arrivals.

“From our analysis comparing 2017 and 2018 tourism statistics looking at the main border posts (Plumtree and Beitbridge) and also looking at Joshua Nkomo International Airport there were a significant number of tourists coming into the city,” he said.

Last year, Bulawayo recorded a total of 583 000 international tourists up from 547 582 the previous year and statistics for this year’s first quarter were yet available.

“We started marketing the city from the perspective of other tourist attractions that are in and around Bulawayo looking at attractions such as Matopos, Khami, the Natural History Museum, among others,” said Mr Tshuma.

— @okazunga.