Published by the government of Zimbabwe
28 October 2008
editorial
Harare — THE tourism industry has the potential to contribute immensely to the turnaround of the country's economy if an enabling environment is created.
Key to this naturally is the resolution of the current political impasse and unity of purpose by stakeholders to win back lost markets while building up new ones.
While the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has been playing its part in that regard, sadly some tour operators have been directly or indirectly contributing to the existing tourism slump through various means, including profiteering and failing to conform to set standards.
Some of the country's hotels and lodges, despite their low grading, remain some of the most expensive accommodation facilities of that nature in Southern Africa.
These and a few other housekeeping issues would have to be corrected if the country is to realise its full tourism potential.
Judging by the just-ended first edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Travel and Tourism Africa Fair, which by any standards went fairly well, the sky could be the limit for the industry if the remaining few loose screws are tightened.
The Sanganai fair, an upgraded version of the previous showcase, the Zimbabwe International Travel Exposition, exceeded the organisers' expectations as it received overwhelming response from the world travel market.
Although the marketing of the event locally and abroad was not that fantastic, the showcase itself was an eye-opener to the local industry and set the grid for future exhibitions.
The event was for the first time held at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair grounds in Bulawayo, a laudable development as there is more space at the grounds for exhibitors to showcase their products in their own creative ways and the city and its surrounding areas are rich in tourism resources.
The travel fair was this year elevated to a regional showcase with Africa having been well represented as some regional states had their individual country stands and separate corporate stands.
Other former traditional markets like Russia, Italy, the United Kingdom, Brazil and Germany were also present, indicating their interest to resuscitate their tourism relationship with Zimbabwe.
The show attracted an estimated 150 buyers from all over the world and 33 travel journalists from Europe, United States, Nigeria, Ghana, China and Zambia.
Business was also fairly good for exhibitors with most announcing that they had clinched business deals and partnerships spread over the next few years.
What now remains is for the organisers to keep the momentum going so as to ensure a bigger and better Sanganai/Hlanganani World Travel and Tourism Africa Fair next year.
So marketing for that showcase should begin now and to be encouraged is the use of e-tourism, which would entail marketing the exhibition and Zimbabwe's tourism through the Sanganai Internet website launched a few years back.
Zimbabwe's tourism took a dive in 2000 following the launch of the country's Land Reform Programme.
However, the number of tourist arrivals began to increase steadily in 2006 by 49 percent and again went up by 24 percent last year.
In the first quarter of this year, the number of visitors increased by 11 percent compared to the same period last year.
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