Roberta Katunga, Senior Business Reporter
ONE of Bulawayo’s budding hospitality concern, Khumalo Hotel is constructing a 700-seater events centre hoping to maximise on the growing Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) business.
MICE business has created opportunities for tourism and hospitality sector players in the country as more rooms are needed to accommodate delegates and bigger conference facilities.
In an interview, the owner, Mr Josephat Kahwema, said the additional project is meant to enhance the hotel’s portfolio to business tourists, adding that they hoped the event centre would bring people who also want accommodation.
He said construction of the events facility began at the beginning of the year and is expected to be completed at the end of the month.
“Khumalo Hotel is undergoing some renovations with a new conference centre being added to the facility. At the moment construction is almost complete with the main work left being tiling, glazing and putting up a ceiling at the state-of- the-art events centre,” said Mr Kahwema.
He said the events centre will be one of the biggest in the city and is an addition to the three existing conference rooms that have a capacity of 200 people each, the hotel already has.
MICE tourism rakes in three times more receipts than leisure tourism with knock-on effects on local hotels in terms of revenue generation.
The country’s tourism and hospitality industry has potential to generate over $100 million annually from its MICE business, according to United Kingdom-based Mice expert and travel writer Mr Martin Lewis.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Mice tourism generates $23 billion regionally each year and is responsible for generating 45,8 percent of revenues in the hospitality industry.
Mr Kahwema said after completion of this project, the hotel will also provide a braaing facility and add an additional 30 extra special rooms to cater for different clientele and international visitors.
“We want to retouch some of our rooms by maybe changing the beds and ensuring that the whole hotel is refurbished. There was a Government incentive in place that used to allow the tourism and hospitality sectors to import hotel amenities duty free in order to refurbish the facilities. We are working on attracting international and local visitors,” he said.