The Sunday News
Phineas Chauke
TOURISM is a multi-billion industry and one of the fastest growing sectors world-wide.
Africa is a popular destination for its sun, wildlife and its diverse and intriguing cultures. These attributes have been central to the range of products that have for years drawn people from far and wide to enjoy, explore and be mesmerised.
These invaluable endowments are the bedrock upon which a plethora of exciting products can be developed.
The industry, like any other, needs continuous improvement in terms of the products and services on offer.
Zimbabwe seems to be lagging behind in terms of product innovation.
The same traditional product range we have been offering 30 years ago has not changed much. There are new developments in terms of visitor activities especially in Victoria Falls but elsewhere in the country much more needs to be done. If the only available product in Victoria Falls was the tour of the falls, tourists were not going to leave as much money as they do in that town.
For Victoria Falls to be a resort area, it is because of the wide spectrum of assorted activities and other products that complement the major attraction.
Such activities include crocodile swim, bungee jumping, village tours, bridge tour, big tree, crocodile farm tour, vulture feeding, lion walk, elephant rides and helicopter rides.
If all the popular tourist attractions could have so many tourist products designed around them our tourism earnings as a country would be way higher than they are.
Tourism industry leaders and training institutions should invest a great deal in the area of stimulating tourism products to take full advantage of the awe inspiring attractions we are so blessed to have in our land.
The key issue here is that the attraction itself is not the product, it is a draw card around which powerful products can be developed.
Without those products the attraction quickly becomes boring and there will be no need for a visitor to stay in that place for more than a day.
Man-made products such as ziplines, skywalks, cable cars help make the destination and major attraction more exciting.
Matopos is a heritage site of international acclaim, people like to come and visit but what activities are available for them when they arrive? We love to preserve our heritage but we miss on developing tourism products and activities around such heritage.
More things could surely be done without tampering with the heritage property. In Masvingo, what do people do after seeing the Great Zimbabwe? This is where we need the great innovative minds.
It is not a law that tourism products should be hinged on nature or what happened in the past. Contemporary culture is a big hit for tourism and it is being packaged and marketed in other countries. Works of art expressing various themes, emotions and aspirations are tourism products and have to be marketed as such.
In Brooklyn, graffiti is a hot tourism product. They have constructed shared meanings of such works and they are proud of them. The key in marketing such products is confidence and appreciation of that product on the part of the locals. If we love ourselves and our lifestyle, it is easy for us to attract others to see us and experience our lifestyle. What you do to yourself, you unwittingly invite others to do to you. Our festivals can be popularised for and also by tourism, but who wants to fly across the high seas to experience something that the locals themselves do not appreciate.
More tourist products should be designed around African lifestyle. I know innovative entrepreneurs who have harnessed local lifestyles for tourism. In Victoria Falls, a couple of locally-owned tourism enterprises are fusing rural lifestyle practices into exciting tourism products. I have seen tourists transported in an ox-drawn scotch cart and savouring the village and experiencing rural African life.
A good mix of comfort and ruggedness is required to give the foreign tourist a feel of true African hospitality and that is exactly what we need. Whatever tourists do, see or experience, there should always be a reminder that they are in Africa.
