The Sunday News
SALARIES for workers in the hunting sector have been regularised to bring them in line with other industries that are offering similar services after an outcry was raised over low remuneration.
According to sources in the tourism industry, workers in the hunting sector were being underpaid but have been lobbying for the regularisation of salaries to be at par with the rest in the tourism sector.
Employers Association of Tourism and Safari Operators president Mr Clement Mukwasi said they had to convene a special meeting to review salaries for workers in the hunting sector and a compromise was reached after a realisation that the salaries were too low.
Before the special meeting, tourism workers and employers had agreed to a two percent salary increment across the board for 2015 before allowances and benefits.
“We are now happy with the new salary structure. However, we are yet to see how sustainable those new ranges are considering that businesses are much suppressed at the moment,” said Mr Mukwasi.
Mr Mukwasi said after the regularisation process the lowest paid employee would be getting $205 from $105.
He said one major challenge that the hunting sector would face was a decrease in the number of people who come into the country for hunting especially from the United States of America following a ban imposed on American citizens by their government.
“The US has removed itself as a source market and its citizens have been banned from possessing animal trophies that include horns and skins among other things. This will lead to a decrease in the number of tourists coming into the country for hunting purposes,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ebola related cancellations have ceased after a realisation that Southern Africa was never affected by Ebola.
According to tourism operators in the country, the outlook looks promising with bookings for the second and third quarter of the year coming in.
“We have started to receive bookings for the second quarter and the numbers are looking good. We are well on the recovery path after the damage that was caused by Ebola related reports that affected arrivals and tourism receipts in general,” said Mr Mukwasi.
He said there had also been an increase in Indian tourists especially those coming through Ndola in Zambia.
Indians are known for travelling in large numbers as groups.
“Victoria Falls as a destination has been receiving a significant number of Indians especially from the Zambian side. This was seen especially during the Easter period. There has been a horde of overlanders and backpackers in the town,” said Mr Mukwasi who is also the Shearwater Adventures corporate communications manager.
The tourism sector is Zimbabwe’s third highest foreign currency earner after mining and agriculture, earning $851 million in 2013 but is among the lowest paying industries.
