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Business Reporter
THE tourism industry in Zimbabwe has channelled more than US$100 million towards upgrades and refurbishment of key facilities in the last two years as the sector positions itself for improved business and post Covid-19 recovery.

The acting Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Dr Jenfan Muswere, revealed this yesterday while officially opening the virtual 2021 edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani – World Tourism Expo, which runs up to Friday.

Despite the ravaging impact of the deadly pandemic, Zimbabwe remains optimistic as a destination and has put in place comprehensive measures to restore client confidence as well as increasing marketing efforts.

The interventions are guided by the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, which was launched by President Mnangagwa in August last year.

“We have accelerated our preparations for a full comeback of the sector. We have witnessed significant investment into the sector driven by private sector and the Government,” said Dr Muswere.

“To date over US$100 million has gone into the refurbishment of tourism facilities and there are new products that have been launched over the past two years.”

To complement private sector efforts, Minister Muswere said Government has availed resources to ensure that accessibility of the country’s tourism products was made easy through the refurbishment and expansion of ports of entry such as the Beitbridge and Kazungula Border posts as well as the Robert Mugabe International Airport.

In addition, he said all major roads leading to key tourism destinations and facilities have been placed on the priority list of the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme.

“Government will continue looking at ways of incentivising the sector in order to capacitate the industry,” said Dr Muswere.

He stressed the importance of embracing information communication technology (ICTs) as the game-changer and a catalyst towards ensuring robust tourism growth.

Zimbabwean tourism stakeholders, international buyers and service providers and peers from the rest of Africa are participating in the global tourism convention in which they will deliberate on a range of issues affecting the sector and mapping out strategies towards comprehensive recovery.

This year’s expo comes when the global tourism community is still battling the adverse effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has frustrated domestic and international travel since 2020.

In the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, Zimbabwe has witnessed a significant drop in tourist arrivals for the year 2020 where it received 639 356 arrivals down from 2,3 million in 2019.

“Although the 2021 statistics are still very low, we would like to appreciate all the travellers who have been visiting our destination during the pandemic,” said Minister Muswere.

He said there has been a positive and steady inflow of visitor traffic from various source markets, particularly the Americas.

The Government has commended Zimbabwean tourism players for fully embracing the National Tourism and Growth Strategy as witnessed by their full support of the Domestic Tourism Campaign – The ZimBho #iZimYami Campaign.

“We recognised that our comeback as a sector has to start by us looking within. My gratitude goes to the general populace for heeding the call and travelling locally,” said Dr Muswere.

He said this kept the sector alive and has saved many jobs. Since the launch of the ZimBho campaign in November 2020, there has been a notable increase in the consumption of tourism products by locals as shown by a sharp 45 percent increase in entries into the country’s National Parks and Museums.

Minister Muswere said the strategies adopted by the sector, including scaling up Covid-19 vaccination, were instilling confidence in the market place and encourage visitors to travel to and within Zimbabwe.

“We look forward to a change in fortunes in the final quarter of the year and beyond, based on the strides made in the global vaccination campaign and our own efforts to make Zimbabwe a safe destination,” he said.

Minister Muswere said the tourism capital, Victoria Falls, was prioritised in the national vaccination roll out.

“The community and the industry also responded positively and this resulted in the city attaining a herd immunity of over 80 percent of all adults,” he said.

Zimbabwe is gradually opening the economy and already air travel and land borders have been opened for tourists.

“As we open up the tourism sector, of paramount importance to us is ensuring that lives are preserved hence the strong emphasis on strict adherence to the World Health Organisation (WHO) regulations by all,” said Dr Muswere.

He urged the ZTA and the industry players at large to be more aggressive in promoting destination Zimbabwe saying the Government will also continue playing its part.