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Prosper Ndlovu, Business Editor
ENVIRONMENT, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu, says increased collaboration between public and private sector should drive travel demand as he urged industry players to come up with more incentives to stimulate business.

Most tourism players throughout the country have now re-opened their facilities in strict compliance with the Covid-19 health protocols, after the Government recently relaxed lockdown restrictions.

Prospects for a tourism rebound are in the horizon, more so given the decision to allow intercity travel to resume as well as domestic and international flights.

However, more needs to be done to stimulate domestic tourism, in particular, which is seen as a low hanging fruit at a time when most foreign source markets for visitors are still under the heavy strain of Covid-19 and yet to relax outbound travelling.

While initial assessments carried out through the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) indicate that occupancy rates in most hotels are still low, hopes are that the situation will improve and the numbers will pick up in the short to medium term.

“In order to save and secure jobs we need to enhance collaboration between the public and the private sector, to stimulate travel demand in the local, regional and international source markets,” said Minister Ndhlovu while speaking at the occasion of the World Tourism Day Celebrations 2020 at Chinhoyi University of Technology on Monday.

“I urge the players in the sector to come up with tourism packages that are affordable to the locals and tap into the domestic market, which clearly they are ranging between 10-15 percent, with most resort hotels still to pick up due to subdued demand.

“I, therefore, make a clarion call to the tourism industry to come up with more packages and incentives to help stimulate tourism demand under this difficult period.”

With the resumption of domestic and international flights, the minister said the country was expecting to see a gradual improvement in hotel occupancies going forward.

Minister Ndhlovu also urged Zimbabweans at home and abroad to take up investment opportunities at rural service centres to position themselves for imminent growth and development.

He said the Government has already begun work on the identified nodes that will drive the growth of the tourism sector. These include the approval of the Victoria Falls-Binga Special Economic Zone by Cabinet, which will see 10 nodes in this zone developed.

The Government is also scaling up development of integrated tourism resort in the Masuwe area, a new resort in Binga and an eco-Tourism Park in Sijarira Forest. The proposed development in Binga includes the upgrading of the airport to improve accessibility in this resort.

“In addition, a new tourism resort will be opened in Batoka area, where Government has since demarcated land for tourism development, in addition to plans to establish a new hydropower station,” Minister Ndhlovu said.

The sector marked this year’s World Tourism Day Celebrations by handing over the Kore Kore Cultural Village to the Makonde community in Mashonaland West. The event afforded academics at Chinhoyi University of Technology an opportunity to input into the national tourism discourse through candid and robust research papers.