The Sunday News
Tourism can be an effective tool for the conservation and management of protected areas. Well-managed tourism can generate the financial and political support needed to sustain the values of protected areas. It can also increase understanding of reserves and their environmental and cultural values, and contribute to enriching visitor experiences, according to Benxiang Zeng (2017).
Zeng in his thesis, Cultural Centre, Destination Cultural Offer and Visitor Satisfaction, goes on to say that each visitor experiences a tourist destination differently.
Their perceptions are formed by the facilities available, the opportunities offered and the experience and knowledge thus gained.
In addition, the value perceived from a destination positively affects their likelihood of revisiting and suggesting destinations to others. In fact, visitors’ overall destination satisfaction depends on their valuation of attribute satisfaction and destination image. For its sustainable development, a tourist destination should plan tourism products not only for overall satisfaction but also for the contribution made by each attribute of the tourist destination to overall satisfaction.
As Bulawayo celebrated the Bulawayo Arts Festival last week which also highlighted milestones achieved since the city was named a municipality on 1 June 1894, as well as arts and culture in the city, it was prudent to remember that recognition of cultural values has been a major driver of substantive changes in park and heritage management philosophy and practice.
Experts say cultural values cannot be separated from the people who connect to and value it, neither can heritage sites and parks exist in isolation from and without the support of the broader community.
“Cultural values of the tourist destination can be expressed in multiple ways. Being components of cultural values, the social value and spiritual value have been difficult to understand and therefore been ignored to some extent.
“From a perspective of tourism management, the cultural values can be only delivered to and experienced by visitors through specific cultural offers. Cultural offers are substantial assets (tangible and intangible) offered in a tourist destination to carry its cultural values.
Besides officially designated cultural heritage sites and assets, cultural offers can be tangible arts, museums, landscapes, or intangible cultural heritage and social value, such as tradition, custom, knowledge and spiritual reliefs. Information centres, cultural centres or visitor centres are all important to showcase and interpret cultural values of the tourist attractions including heritage sites.” (Zeng, 2017).
Bulawayo also raised the bar in terms of arts and culture when President Mnangagwa graced the festival, and officially opened the festival on Thursday, putting a seal of approval and showing his desire to see Bulawayo becoming the arts and cultural hub in the country.
The President also launched the Heritage Corridor in the city. The Corridor starts at the Inxwala Grounds near Amakhosi, (which has often housed the Luna Park between the city and Northend) and moves to the Hanging Tree (between Connaught and Masotsha Ndlovu Avenue), Dr Joshua Nkomo’s Statue in the city centre, St Mary’s Basilica (Roman Catholic Church in the city centre), Joshua Nkomo Museum and the Natural History Museum. What is needed therefore is proper management of the sites and getting locals involved so that they cherish them and keep them safe.
These sites will help market the city as a cultural and tourism hub, and boost businesses as well. It is the locals who must ensure that visitors get satisfaction so that they may visit again and recommend the city to other people.
President Mnangagwa, after the tour of heritage sites in Bulawayo, said such places had a role to play in promoting tourism.
“The Natural History Museum and the St Mary’s Cathedral Basilica Parish, among other sites demonstrate the wealth and diversity of our culture and heritage.
“These must be cherished protected and safeguarded for generations to come,” he said.
