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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
GOVERNMENT has said the tourism sector has shown significant signs of recovery from the effects of Covid-19 leveraging on a number of interventions put in place to cushion the sector.

Players in the sector have embarked on major refurbishments of facilities which is a clear indication that they are quite confident about the future of the sector, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Permanent Secretary Mr Raphael Tayerera Faranisi has said.

He was speaking in an interview in Victoria Falls where he was leading a delegation from the Ramsar Convention of Parties (COP) that was in the city to assess facilities ahead of the 15th convention on wetlands to be attended by 172 countries in 2025.

Mr Faranisi said hosting big events was a sign of growth of the sector which realised over $1 billion in tourism receipts.

“There has been significant recovery in the tourism sector in terms of tourism receipts where we were close to a billion dollars. Arrivals also increased significantly which is a good sign and thanks to our tourism players they have been doing quite a lot particularly the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority,” said Mr Faranisi.

He said the fact that the Minister of Tourism and ZTA were recently given awards in Berlin, Germany was an indication that there has been quite a lot of progress and growth in Zimbabwe’s tourism industry.

Minister Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu

“There has been significant growth in the industry as seen in developments taking place. As I was moving with the secretariat I spoke to a number of operators and they are very optimistic.

“There is a lot of excitement and most of them are preparing for the future and some are doing refurbishments of facilities which is a clear indication that they are quite confident of where we are going,” said the Permanent Secretary.

He said the Government put in place a $7.5 million revolving fund to help particularly those in the small-scale tourism sector to refurbish their establishments and also assist them with recovery.

“This is not to say that is enough but as a ministry we are obliged to see that we can raise more even for bigger players so that we can at least achieve the US$5 billion tourism industry by 2025,” added Mr Faranisi.

He said big conferences such as the Ramsar convention rubber stamps the country as a destination of choice.

He said there is a need to structure packages that will facilitate more marketing of products not only here in Victoria Falls but across all resorts in the country.

Tourism receipts increased by 133 percent from US$288,8 million in 2021 to US$672,9 million in 2022 while tourism investments rose by 239 percent from US$90,4 million to US$306,7 million, compared to the same period in 2021, the ministry has said.

Government expects that the review of the National Tourism Policy (NTP) will create a more resilient and robust post Covid-19 sector that is anchored on strong recovery and growth.

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.
— @ncubeleon