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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

VICE-President Dr Constantino Chiwenga, says the country’s tourism industry is showing signs of vibrant recovery in response to enhanced Government support measures.

Despite the crippling impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the sector has seen investments in accommodation growing to US$180 million in 2021, a 147 percent increase from the US$72,9 million in the previous year.

Speaking here last week during Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) 2022 annual Congress, Dr Chiwenga said operators in the sector were now confident of the future hence the investments in new projects.

He said the prevailing recovery mode was inspired by a raft of measures and incentives such as the exemption on domestic tax and the setting up of a tourism revolving fund introduced by Government in consultation with the sector.

Tourism was one of the worst hit sectors by the Covid-19-induced restrictions on international and domestic travel and Government in 2020 responded by launching the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy with a target of achieving a US$5 billion tourism earnings by 2025.

“According to our statistics, in 2021 investments in the tourism industry, which were mostly in the accommodation sector grew by 147 percent totalling US$180,4 million from US$72,9 million recorded in 2020,” said Dr Chiwenga.

Despite being hit hard by Covid-19, he commended the tourism industry for taking the lead during the most difficult time, especially setting the pace for the massive vaccination at a time when the general citizenry was hesitant to be vaccinated.

This has seen the sector attracting not only individual tourists but also major international conferences such as the International Conference on Aids and STIs in Africa (ICASA), which Zimbabwe recently won the bid to host in 2023 in Victoria Falls.

“We’re delighted to witness the construction of new hotels and new investments in the hospitality industry especially in Victoria Falls, which is a designated special economic zone,” said VP Chiwenga.

“May I, therefore, urge potential investors to take advantage of the special incentives that accrue from investing in the special economic zone as well as listing on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange Market.”

He challenged the industry to fully exploit opportunities that were unlocked by Zimbabwe’s participation at the recent Dubai 2020 Expo where the country was marketed as a world-class tourist destination. 

“The engagement and re-engagement policy that is being championed by the President, Cde  Mnangagwa, has also boosted the image of Zimbabwe as a tourism destination of choice for both international visitors and investors,” said VP Chiwenga.

He implored the private sector to partner Government in identifying opportunities for investments to grow the provincial economies and effectively contribute to President Mnangagwa quest of leaving no one and no place behind in economic development.

Dr Chiwenga said tourism is sensitive to external shocks such as pandemics and global financial crises and to cushion the sector, there is a need to promote strong and resilient domestic market.

“Government continues to support the envisaged US$5 billion tourism industry contribution to the fiscus by 2025 through various infrastructural developments such as the upgrading of airports, border posts modernisation, emergency road rehabilitation programme, power generation and dams’ construction,” he said. 

Dr Chiwenga, however, expressed concern about speculative behaviour by some operators where some hotels are reportedly charging exorbitant rates to Government using parallel market exchange rates in the name of hedging against inflation. 

He said this inevitably contributed to inflationary pressures on the fiscus resulting in economic instability. 

VP Chiwenga commended the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Hospitality Industry and Tourism for initiatives towards green tourism strategies as a way of addressing climate change challenges.

This year’s congress ran under the theme: “Resetting Hospitality Towards Tourism Success” and resonates well with the country’s economic blueprint, the National Development Strategy-1 (NDS1). – @ncubeleon