The Sunday News
Phineas Chauke
ZIMBABWE is a tourism destination whose attributes are incomparable to many across the globe. The combination of natural and cultural heritage resources that are of tourism significance is tremendously extensive.
While there are commendable efforts by private players and public sector entities, the industry’s performance has not reached its pre-2000 glorious levels in terms of international tourist arrivals and revenue generation.
The success of destination marketing hinges on collaborative rather than individualised efforts. It should always be borne in mind that rarely does a tourist fly across the seas to visit a single attraction or tourist service, that kind of thing could probably work with the domestic market. People plan holidays over long periods and before they choose so and so’s facility within a destination, they will have to choose a destination first.
It is prudent, therefore, to focus on elevating the destination and positioning it as the destination of choice. This is a super-ordinate ideal that demands that all stakeholders, whether directly involved in tourism or not, to collaborate and push the Destination Zimbabwe agenda. In that regard it is high time to establish, intensify and leverage public-private co-operation.
Destination Zimbabwe has an official marketing agency (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority) that is making commendable strides in promoting tourism in the country and making in-roads in international markets. Their efforts need to be complemented by everyone who in their individual or corporate capacity constitutes part of the destination.
Let me repeat at this juncture that it is the responsibility of everyone in Zimbabwe (whether directly involved in tourism business or not) to create or augment the perception that Zimbabwe is indeed a “World of Wonders”.
Everyone has their little part to play in the destination promotion matrix in every country or community, even moreso in Zimbabwe, a destination whose unique selling positions are hinged on both nature and the beautiful, warm and hospitable people.
The destination promotion matrix involves the deliberate stimuli sent to the markets and the whole lot of other happenings, signals and innuendos wittingly or unwittingly transmitted from even the remote pockets of the destination. The call here is for all parts of the Zimbabwean system to pull together with the same vision of sending the same message that Zimbabwe is the place to be.
All Government departments and parastatals should have policies and practices that feed into the same super statement.
In many a case we have had problems emanating from the inconsistencies of policies and practices by the various Government entities who handle in one way or another, members of the international community visiting Zimbabwe.
These entities include but are not limited to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, Civil Aviation Authority, Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Zimbabwe Republic Police, National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, the various ministries and members of the general public. When it comes to handling tourists, let the story be unbreakable, let it flow seamlessly. This is not a blame game but the point is there is need to synchronise our policies and practices and make sure that they talk to the hospitable nature of the people of Zimbabwe in general. It is possible, let those policies speak to each other to achieve a smooth, co-ordinated service yielding a priceless experience on the part of our visitors. Marketing is not a “make-believe” fairy tale, sweet kind of affair, it should reflect the reality on the ground. Marketing communication do raise expectations and when the actual experience matches those expectations, it leads to satisfaction.
If the experience lands below expectations, you have a dissatisfied customer. When the expectations are exceeded by the actual experience, the customer is delighted. The ultimate aim of our overall destination promotional strategy is to delight the customer rather than just satisfy them because that is what positions us as the destination of choice.
The Zimbabwean warm welcome to our visitors should start right at the port of entry and cascade all the way down to the cleaner at that lodge where the guests will stay.
There is also the issue of those people who are milling around tourist attractions, especially Victoria Falls, who are pushing their wares. These people are hustling to take care of themselves and families but we should always know that business and begging are not the same. We should not pester our tourists to buy things that they have indicated they do not want and follow them all the way “to the Zambian border”. This diminishes the decency of our destination. Remember, what we want is to make the most out of all the tourism promotion efforts being made from the different quarters of the tourism industry.
