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PRESIDENT Emmerson Mnangagwa has called on Bulawayo to increase tourism marketing saying the city has vast potential to maximise earnings from the sector and contribute to economic growth in the country.

Although Bulawayo is regarded as the manufacturing hub in the economy, the President believes the second largest city is loaded with untapped tourism value, mainly in terms of meetings, conferences and exhibitions segment.

“Cities such as Bulawayo are challenged to consider marketing the opportunities around ‘meeting and event tourism’, taking into account the presence of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) facilities,” said President Mnangagwa in his State of the Nation Address on Tuesday.

“The tourism sector continues to make notable improvements. There is a need, however, to improve tourism infrastructure, product range, quality and pricing of our products to make them more competitive. Stakeholders in this sector are encouraged to leverage on partnerships with other successful tourist destinations in the region, to jointly market products available in our country.”

President Mnangagwa said development and modernisation of the country’s roads, railways, airports, energy and ICT infrastructure would be accelerated to leverage growth across sectors.

“This must, however, be in sync with our domestic realities as well as the on-going quest by SADC and Africa as a whole, for enhanced connectivity and integrated infrastructure,” he said.

As efforts to revive industries take centre stage, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive officer, Mr Karikoga Kaseke, has also said robust growth opportunities abound in the city’s tourism industry despite its poor performance in recent years.

He told delegates during the recent Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo held in Bulawayo that they would continue to host the event here until such a time when authorities were satisfied of its contribution to the city’s economy.

While other cities suffered a drop in tourism performance over the years, ZTA has said the level of impact was not comparable to Bulawayo from a tourism point of view.

“So, we want to restore the tourism legacy in this city. Bulawayo is the industrial capital of the country and we must ensure that this sector of the economy and industries are functioning well,” said Mr Kaseke.

Bulawayo is endowed with a diversity of attractive tourism heritage sites. The city and its surroundings are known for their unique tourism taste yet this market has not been fully exploited. The city offers a complete tourism package with its own cultural heritage, museums and monuments, parks and wildlife and nearby historic sites such as Khami Ruins and Old Bulawayo among others.