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Leonard Ncube, [email protected]

THE country’s prime tourism destination Victoria Falls has recorded a significant 15 percent increase in arrivals this month compared to the same period last year propelled by several key conferences.

January is traditionally a low month in terms of tourism arrivals and hospitality room occupancies as figures usually take a dip after the festive season until the Easter holidays.

This year so far, Victoria Falls has been a hive of activity with several conferences taking place.

Victoria Falls has rarely hosted conferences in January before.

This month, the city has hosted the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) Social Dialogue Retreat which had more than 200 participants, some of them foreign delegates, the 7th Institutional Strategic Plan Retreat for Parliament of Zimbabwe, and Zambezi River Authority who had conferences recently.

The Judicial Service Commission will host a Regional Symposium on Electoral Justice organised by the Africa Electoral Justice Network from tomorrow until 2 February in the city. From 1 to 3 February, there will be the Africa is Digital Summit before the city hosts the 56 Session of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa between 28 February and 5 March.

The ongoing activity in Victoria Falls signifies confidence in the destination both by local and international tourists and the desire for “revenge tourism” where activities that were affected by Covid-19 pandemic are being revisited, and dovetails with the Government plan to make the city a destination of choice.

Victoria Falls, which is the country’s tourism capital, is riding on the strength of the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, launched by President Mnangagwa in 2020 August to re-start the sector’s contribution to the national economy after having been heavily crippled by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The strategy seeks to grow the tourism economy to US$5 billion by 2025 and is anchored on Zimbabwe’s vision to be a prime international tourist destination based on the judicious and sustainable exploitation of the unique assets of nature, culture, heritage, and the built environment and is informed by the Government’s Vision 2030 to become an upper-middle-income economy characterised by increased investment, decent jobs, and a populace free from poverty and corruption.

The Meetings, Incentives, Conference, Events and Exhibition (Mice) concept is one concept the Government is using to promote tourism.

This is despite a shortage of rooms and conference facilities.

The nation has a shortage of more than 2 500 rooms.

Giving an overview of the tourism industry’s performance past the festive season, the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe’s immediate past president Mr Farai  Chimba said tourism arrivals are expected to reach the 55 percent mark for January, up from 40 percent last year.

“From a Victoria Falls perspective, we certainly have seen better than the previous year in January which gives us a very positive start to the year. In 2022 we were sitting at 40 percent tourist percentages in room occupancies. This year we expect to grow the numbers past the 55 percent that we project to have achieved last year as a destination.

“From the preliminary numbers we have collected as a destination, we are looking at 55 percent. So a 15 percent jump in numbers for Victoria Falls is very positive,” said Mr Chimba.

Mr Chimba said they expect significant growth for the whole country in terms of tourism arrivals.

He said the opportunities are a call for the industry to increase room complement and conference facilities to host Mice activities.

According to the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) quarterly economic review for the quarter to September 2023, tourist arrivals increased by 41,9 percent to 494 878, compared to 348 559 recorded in the comparable period in 2022.

Tourism receipts increased by 24 percent to US$272,26 million in the same from US$219,45 million achieved during the previous quarter of the same year, largely as a result of improved tourist arrivals.

A total of US$300 million was poured in on investment within the sector with new facilities in restaurants, hotels, lodges, safaris and game parks dominating.

In December, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Barbara Rwodzi launched the festive season domestic tourism campaign dubbed ZIMBHO–Uripi in Binga, Matabeleland North to drive economic growth through encouraging Zimbabweans, including those living in the diaspora to travel within Zimbabwe this festive season to have a feel of local attraction centres.

The ZIMBHO campaign feeds into the target of turning tourism into a US$5 billion economy by 2025 in line with the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy.