The Sunday News
HOTELS and lodges in Bulawayo have relaxed their terms and conditions for bookings ahead of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) event despite this being the peak season for the sector due to the liquidity crisis in the country.
Ordinarily during the peak season, service providers push for guaranteed bookings to avoid last minute cancellations and some of the ways to guarantee a booking is through credit cards or paying a deposit.
Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe Bulawayo Chapter chairperson Mr Chiku Mulinde said unlike in previous years, hotels and lodges had to be very flexible in terms of payments so as to accommodate a number of clients.
“People are no longer sticking to deadlines mainly because of the cash crisis in the country and the sector has had to be flexible to customers,” said Mr Mulinde.
Speaking on the occupancy rate during this period, Mr Mulinde said the three big hotels were fully booked and had since started referring business to smaller players and that a number of lodges were also fully booked although some were still taking bookings.
He said if a booking is not paid up, some do not consider it as guaranteed hence it would be still open to other customers.
“With a few weeks to go to ZITF, there are rooms that are still available and there are some lodges that are still yet to fill up their rooms. This year, industry did not hike rates but maintained last year’s rates,” he said.
According to HAZ, Bulawayo has the capacity to accommodate all visitors who come to the city for the ZITF as residents are also encouraged to practice hospitality homes where houses are temporarily turned into B&Bs.
Cresta Churchill general manager Mr Brian Nyakutombwa confirmed that his hotel was already full and ready to welcome guests.
He said the ZITF period was an oversubscribed time for the tourism and hospitality sector in the city.
“The hotel is fully booked from 28 April to 2 May and we have maintained the special Trade Fair rates we had last year as this is a peak period for us,” he said.
This year’s exhibition will be held from 28 April to 2 May under the theme ‘‘Stimulating trade: seizing opportunities to accelerate growth’’ and will be officially opened by Zambian President Edgar Lungu.
At least 22 direct foreign exhibitors from 16 countries including the United States of America and three from Europe have so far confirmed their participation at this year’s ZITF.
