The Sunday News
HOTEL occupancy in the first half of the year was flat going up slightly by one percentage point to 32 percent as the sector feels the effects of low spending triggered by tightening liquidity challenges.
Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe president Mr Tamuka Macheka told Sunday Business on the sidelines of the association’s conference held in Bulawayo that business continued to face challenges as even domestic visitors were not spending much.
“There are a lot of factors affecting business and theses includes liquidity crunch and the fact that Africa is looked at as a bloc hence any problem in any part of the continent affects the whole region like the Ebola scare in West Africa,” he said.
Hence, HAZ noted that there was a need for extra strategies to improve occupancy and tourism in general.
Mr Macheka said one such effort was the e-learning platform on customer care aimed at building a culture of service excellence as a way of improving the handling of tourists in the country.
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority is on record saying they were receiving numerous complaints from both domestic and international visitors on poor service citing particularly ports of entry and traffic police, something that they think had adversely affected the sector.
“We are putting ourselves in the shoes of visitors, they are supposed to be important to us because tourism benefits the country’s economy in totality not just tour operators or the hospitality sector hence the need to cultivate a culture of service excellence across the board,” said Mr Macheka.
He said the customer care programme would be implemented everywhere from taxi operators to supermarket workers as well as immigration officials and the police.
Mr Macheka said it was important to inform and communicate with visitors before they even come into Zimbabwe and ensure that they were made aware of the requirements at the ports of entry.
“It is poor service when people are arrested for not having something they did not know is a requirement in Zimbabwe as some of these laws are country specific. At least there should be a shop where all these things can be bought and then in that case one can be fined when they fail to adhere to laws they are aware of,” he said.
A ZTA spokesman said there must be a symbiotic relationship between all stakeholders and players in the tourism industry and people had to up their efforts in service excellence to avoid deterring arrivals into the country.
“Everyone should play their part for the satisfaction of our visitors, marketing Zimbabwe should be in totality and there are partners who are just not ready to receive visitors through their attitudes.
We need absolute professionalism and selflessness in giving service in order to deliver a complete product as a destination,” said Mr Sugar Chagonda.
Mr Chagonda said the tourism authority was trying to engage various organisations and entities after receiving numerous complaints from tourists on the treatment they get.
International buyers, who attended this year’s edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani expo said travelling on Zimbabwe’s roads was a nightmare due to numerous roadblocks and bad roads and urged more domestic air connectivity to avoid losing tourists.
One Zimbabwean residing in South Africa, Mr Nkululeko wa-Zwamuno said the country must have information desks at ports of entry to provide tourists with information, regulations and other requirements as well as give a grace period to allow compliance before one is liable for fine.
“I have witnessed instances where tourists are fined for requirements that they did not know about for instance reflectors and reflective vests. Some people hire cars and it is illegal to stick anything on a hired car.
In the absence of official information, rumours become the truth and these tarnish the image of the country. Information packs can be used as well as a way to market the destination and tourist attractions,” said Mr wa-Zwamuno.
