The Sunday News
Roberta Katunga, Senior Business Reporter
THIS year’s edition of the A’sambeni Africa business tourism expo was overshadowed by preparations for the Sanganai/ Hlanganani world tourism expo that will be held in June at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.
The A’sambeni which is traditionally held in Hall 3 was a shadow of past editions with the few exhibitors barely visible as they were dotted across the exhibition hall.
Buyers from within the region were conspicuous by their absence despite being an integral part of past exhibitions were they interacted with exhibitors before embarking on post A’sambeni tours.
An official from the Tourism and Hospitality Ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity said stakeholders in the tourism industry were wary of the costs they would incur as most of the expected exhibitors were set to participate at the upcoming Sanganai/ Hlanganani expo.
“As you are aware, we will be having a major tourism event that is internationally recognised in less than two months at the same venue thus most stakeholders chose to participate in Sanganai,” said the official.
In 2014, 24 companies exhibited at A’sambeni while 14 buyers from the region attended the show while last year 18 companies participated with the number going down to about 14 this year including those in pavilions outside the exhibition hall like Air Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe National Parks.
National Convention Bureau (NCB), which was formed by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority to develop Zimbabwe as a MICE destination, executive director Mrs Tessa Chikaponya said there were no buyers at this year’s expo as they decided to focus on engaging different industries targeting conferences and meetings.
“We took a new thrust this year and our focus was to engage industry players as they generate MICE because they are responsible for holding meetings and conferences and bringing in regional and international conferences to Zimbabwe as they belong to different international bodies,” said Mrs Chikaponya.
Mrs Chikaponya said MICE tourism was poised to grow the economy as the downstream benefits not only benefited the tourism sector but different areas of the economy.
“We conducted a lot of meetings during the ZITF exhibition and there was a lot of interest from industry players as they inquired on how to bid for conferences from the bureau. We are optimistic about the immense benefits of MICE to the country’s economic growth,” she said.
MICE industry is one of the fastest growing segments within the tourism industry generating millions in revenues for cities and countries. The A’sambeni Africa expo ran concurrently with the ZITF.
