Dickson Mangena, Business Reporter
AMAKHOSI Cultural Tours in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) will be holding a pilot Bulawayo township tour on Thursday and Friday, a move meant to kick start community based tourism in the country.
The tour will coincide with the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair where exhibitors will be selected for the tour. Amakhosi public relations officer Mr Gordon Chimombe said the tour is going to be a head start for Amakhosi Cultural Tours, who are Bulawayo’s leaders in Community Based Tourism (CBT), to reach a bigger market through local and international delegates.
“With the target of the trade fair our sponsors, JICA, saw that all stakeholders pertaining to tourism both local and international will be at one place. And they have budgeted to select 80 people for the two days so that they can go and experience the township and inner city tours so that they would sell those tours wherever they would be going,” said Mr Chimombe.
JICA is an independent institution of the government of Japan, responsible for international co-operation and development agenda of the country.
Mr Chimombe said the tour will cover the inner city and Makokoba suburb. “In these tours we shall be taking them on our brochure which we just finished with the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and JICA for the past two years. The brochure covers heritage building trails which we call the inner city tour. We will also be taking them to Makokoba which is the township tour,” Mr Chimombe said.
He said his organisation was foreseeing a boom in tourism once the initiative kicks off.
“With the visionary of the founder of the Amakhosi Cultural Tours Mr Cont Mhlanga, we have managed to make sure that communities have the upper hand in taking care of their resources. Definitely the trade fair will help us to connect with people from all around the world to showcase the programme,” said Mr Chimombe.
The Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry in partnership with JICA is in the process of developing a National Community Based Tourism Master Plan which will be used as a guide in the development of community based tourism projects in Zimbabwe.
The Bulawayo Township Tour project is one of the four pilot projects used by JICA for the development of a Community Based Tourism Enterprises (CBTE) manual. The other projects also include Tengenenge Arts and Craft Centre, Chesvingo Cultural Village and Gairezi Ecotourism Project.
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