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Business Reporter

GOVERNMENT expects the ongoing review of the National Tourism Policy (NTP) to create a more resilient and robust post Covid-19 sector that is anchored on strong recovery and growth, a Cabinet minister has said.

The NTP was crafted in 2014 and it is being reviewed to realign with the National Development Strategy (NDS-1), the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy (NTRGS), and Vision 2030.

Due to national lockdowns and travel restrictions countries world over imposed to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, Zimbabwe’s tourism sector was not spared from the adverse effects of the virus.

In 2020, the Government launched the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy to re-start the sector, whose contribution to the national economy was heavily crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Delivering a keynote address by at the Berlin economic forum in  Germany last Thursday, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu, said the review and renewal of the NTP will anchor full recovery and growth of the sector going forward.

Under the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, the Government expects to increase tourism earnings to US$5 billion by 2025.

Tourism is one of the key economic pillars and the sector is expected to contribute more towards economic growth in line with the upper middle-income economy vision by 2030.

“This exercise will facilitate the development of a more resilient and robust National Tourism Policy (NTP), which takes into account changes in the macro-economic environment and respond to issues of global climate change, innovation, and technological advancements, green tourism economy and consumerism, amongst other key compelling factors,” he said.

Minister Ndlovu said globally, preliminary figures from the UNWTO show that international tourist arrivals recovered by 101.6 percent in 2022 with global tourist arrivals ranging from 455 million to 917 million. For Sub-Saharan Africa, arrivals rose by 134 percent from 19.2 million to 45 million in 2022.

“In Zimbabwe, the tourism industry is also experiencing significant recovery. Tourist arrivals surged by 174 percent to 1,043,781 from 380,820 in 2021. This recovery is a testament to the sector’s resilience and perseverance in the face of global pandemics,” he said.

Zimbabwe’s source markets more than doubled their 2021 levels, with arrivals from Europe increasing by 150 percent. Germany, which is the country’s third largest overseas source market saw arrivals increasing by 333 percent.

Minister Ndlovu told the forum that Zimbabwe offers vast investment opportunities across all the facets of tourism and wildlife, adding that key investment destinations include Victoria Falls, Kariba, the Eastern Highlands, Harare, and Bulawayo.

“New investment and upcoming frontiers including the New City – Mount Hampden, Binga, Tugwi-Mukosi and Kanyemba, which have been receiving serious inquiries from prospective investors are becoming tourism investment hotspots in Zimbabwe,” he said.

With global tourism returning to normalcy in the post-Covid-19 world, businesses need to re-think tourism in terms of tourism investment.

For Zimbabwe, such investment opportunities exist in development of convention and exhibition centers and facilities across the whole country, construction of new hotel and lodge facilities, and setting up of manmade attractions, such as theme parks.