The Sunday News
Nkosilathi Sibanda, Sunday News Correspondent
WORKERS in the hotel and tourism industry could find themselves jobless in the coming months, as companies countrywide are likely to scale down operations amid misfortunes brought by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) reports that more than 50 percent of the workforce in the industry is out of work. There are thousands of workers in the tourism industry, with the bulk being contract workers, with a handful of enterprises that thrive on job spillovers from established brands. In the past weeks, the majority of the labour force were told to stay home for the next three months with no guarantee of pay or returning to work. This is because there has been a stop on travels the world over due to the coronavirus pandemic.
There has been a ripple effect felt by safari businesses who have already pronounced that they will not be open for the rest of the year.
Uncertainty has also gripped tour agents, guides, hunting concessions, curio and craft vendors, artist galleries, farmers, rural district council and communities that depend on such business for sustainable living.
International tourism receipts are counted as the country’s key foreign currency earners, and players in the industry rely on such income to also pay their workforce and keep operating. Sunday News Business understands that at the country’s prime holiday resort, Victoria Falls, some lodges and hotels closed shop way back before the announcement of the national lockdown.
A random call at small and emerging Bed and Breakfast lodgings (B&B’s) in Bulawayo, Matobo, Binga and Hwange revealed a “sorry sight” of businesses reeling in the heat. Although the ZTA and other stakeholders are perturbed by the sudden crash, the authority has called for calm as the country grapples to fight the spread of Covid-19.
“As ZTA we are disturbed but, as for the industry as a whole, this must be a time to re-strategise. We urge for calm so that we focus our energies for a great comeback as we market our destination and Brand Zimbabwe,” said ZTA spokesperson Mr Godfrey Koti.
“We are not pleased with job losses we are seeing. It is not any employer’s wish to send workers home. Let us however, take into account that the industry shutdown and the Covid-19 lockdown is necessary. The health of our people is key for tourism to survive.”
Mr Koti said ZTA had on several occasions met with tourism business leaders including the Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) to ascertain how best the industry can survive and save jobs during and after the fall of the pandemic.
“We believe employers and owners of hotels and companies have laid down plans to safeguard job security. There have been conversations on how best workers must be taken care of. The guarantee of job security was emphasised.”
A manager at one hotel in the city said workers’ welfare and health were important.
“Workers are tourism’s biggest assets. Many jobs are on the line here. While the current situation is not avoidable, we cannot help but think of the future. The coronavirus scare has left hotels empty. No business means there no is money to pay workers. Needless to say, few businesses made profits since the start of the year, making it hard to maintain a huge workforce in such a crisis.”
The Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe is on record urging employers to take due care of workers’ affairs, having noted that unhappy employees curtail tourism growth. Employees in the sector spoke out about fear, anxiety and unease that has compounded their daily life of late.
Mr Lameck Nyathi, a tour guide at a company that operates at Hwange and Zambezi National Parks said it has not been easy for him and colleagues to think of the future of their jobs.
“Really, how does one start to plan? We are at a point where some of us do not know how they are going to feed their families. If tourists do not come, it means no food on the table. This coronavirus has to be contained fast, otherwise the tourism industry will go down,” he said.
Mrs Joe-Ann Ncube a general hand at a leading resort establishment at Victoria Falls felt they must be a solution.
“Our employers have to find a way. We are just mere workers. In the coming days or months while the hotel has closed, the bosses have to pay. It’s painful and scary.”
The job loss pinch is also felt by international tourism governing bodies, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation and the World Travel and Tourism Council. The estimate is that by end of the year, 50 million workers worldwide could be jobless, owing to the health crisis at hand.
