The Sunday News
PLAYERS in the tourism industry have said the performance of the domestic industry has been subdued in the first half of the year due to the effects of the ebola disease scare in some West African countries and the general global economic pressures that have resulted in less people going for holiday.
In an interview on Friday, Victoria Falls Safari Lodge general manager Mr Jonathan Hudson said tourism arrivals were low as compared to the same period last year.
“Tourist arrivals have gone down by 25 percent on the same period last year. This is mainly due to the outbreak of the ebola disease in other countries in Africa,” said Mr Hudson, who is Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ)’s past president.
Analysts say despite the fact that the countries affected by ebola — namely Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — are closer to Europe than to east and southern Africa, there were geographical misconceptions of tourism regions by potential tourists who view Africa as one homogenous country and not as the second-largest continent, containing 55 recognised states.
The false impression resulted in the number of tourists remaining low, even to countries not affected by ebola.
Mr Hudson said terrorism, which is common in Northern Africa and only affects those countries, had also affected the performance of the domestic tourism.
“The terrorist organisations such as Boko Haram, Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) and Al-Shabab have contributed to less tourists coming here than last year,” said the official.
He added that local tourism, like in any other African country, was severely impacted by the global recession that started around 2008.
“Generally the world economic recession has also contributed to reduced numbers compared to last year. We are not going to beat the last year’s figures,” said Mr Hudson.
A general manager of a leading hotel company who spoke on condition of anonymity since he is not authorised to speak to the press, echoed the same sentiments and said tourism arrivals had gone down in the first half of the year.
“From January to June this year, the business has been quiet. I can say the tourism arrivals here have gone down by 20 to 25 percent when we compare with the same period last year. We have tried to reduce the accommodation rates in a bid to attract customers but still we are failing to reach the figures that we had last year,” said the official.
Mr Hudson, however, said they were going to put an aggressive marketing strategy to attract more tourists in the country.
“We are going to put aggressive marketing strategies. Hotels are putting local and
