The Sunday News
Prosper Ndlovu in Dubai, UAE
ZIMBABWE is driving at securing strategic tourism business synergies with partners in the Middle East region where potential suitors who include the diaspora community have expressed interest in tapping into the vast investment opportunities being offered by the country.
Travel and tourism enquiries are among the top areas of interest to potential investors visiting the Zimbabwe Pavilion since the beginning of the on-going world acclaimed Expo 2020 Dubai, which is hosted by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In line with the strategic intent of the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, the country has outlined a number of investments pitches in hospitality accommodation, conference facilities, theme parks, upmarket restaurants among others.
These were a under intense discussions here yesterday during the opening session of the “Visit Zimbabwe Tourism Conference and Exhibition”, which has been organised by the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry targeting the Middle East market.
The invited delegates who included the diaspora community expressed excitement over the numerous attractions that Zimbabwe offers in the tourism sector and applauded the business reform measures being implemented by the Government.
A senior representative of Time Hotels Group, one of the leading hospitality giants in the UAE, Mr Mohamed Awadalla, said their entity was focused on Africa investments as part of their expansion drive and that Zimbabwe was one of their target destinations.
“Our next expansion focus is Africa, we feel the potential for Africa over the next coming 10 years is enormous…but we need to assess the environment and one of these areas is Zimbabwe and that’s why we are here.
So, we need to assess what are the economic challenges, what requirements and who are the partners that we could partner with.”
The Times Group executive said as investors they were interested in peace and political stability of a destination, stable economic environment, controlled inflation and a sound banking system that allows easy inflow and outflow of capital.
He commended Zimbabwe for having adequate tourism attraction drivers and for coming up with good ideas to transform the sector including investing in improved aviation infrastructure, which attracted giant international flights like Qatar and Ethiopian Airways.
Australian-based Zimbabwean medical expert, Dr Allan Nhapi, said he came to Expo 2020 Dubai in order to appreciate what the country has to offer as he was interested in investing in the real estate sector, in particular under the tourism segment.
“I am interested in real estate in the long and short term and the short term is about investing in 35 to 50 room hotel rooms in the city of Harare.
“The long term is the health and tourism focus in Victoria Falls. Improved health services should be combined with tourism and I am already engaged in skin care health and issues of cancer.
“With health tourism you promote the influx of visitors including those who have certain ailments and conditions who would come in as long as they know that their health needs will be taken care of.
That is why in Australia, India and here in UAE health tourism is a massive thing and health services have partnerships with hotels as a value chain.”
Dubai based financial expert, Mr Rungano Innocent Nyaude, said as diasporans they were keen on tapping into available tourism business opportunities as well as in other sectors.
He revealed that as Zimbabweans based in the UAE they were already working closely with the embassy to establish a business forum where they will discuss more investment issues and follow up on leads raised during the expo.
In her official opening remarks earlier, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Deputy Minister, Barbara Rwodzi, who is leading the Zimbabwean delegation to the tourism conference, said the country was focused on achieving the US$5 billion tourism economy by 2025.
This explains why the country was seeking investment leads from the Middle East as one of the markets that Zimbabwe will pursue earnestly, to boost tourism arrivals and investments in the tourism sector, she said.
“I am therefore keen to see us forging strong ties with tour operators and travel agencies from this region, and beyond, to take advantage of the strong air links between Harare and Dubai as well as Doha to promote increased tourism traffic.
Zimbabwe, through our tourism marketing agency, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, stands ready to facilitate familiarisation trips for tour operators and travel agencies in this region to enable them to sample the numerous tourism attractions in our country.
“In this connection, during the visit, my delegation will give out 10 complimentary tours to chosen tour operators and travel agents to come on a familiarisation visit to Zimbabwe to enable you to market a product you are familiar with.”
The Deputy Minister assured international tourists of enhanced safety as the country has made strides in vaccinating its population against Covid-19 with 96 percent of the population in the tourism city of Victoria Falls having received both first and second doses.
She also highlighted that the Government has put in a number of tourism specific incentives, which include duty rebates and tax holidays in the designated Special Economic Zones and Tourism Development Zones.
“This bears testimony to our pronounced determination to grow the tourism sector to a multi-billion dollar sector by the year 2025.
Again my team from the ministry is ready to engage through bilateral discussions and I am confident that the discussions will be business-like, true to our mantra ‘Zimbabwe is open for business’.”
Zimbabwean Ambassador in the UAE, Amb Lovemore Mazemo, said Zimbabwe has prime investment opportunities across different sectors and that the tourism sector was a low hanging fruit.
He also urged the diaspora community and potential investors in the Middle East to visit Zimbabwe and see for themselves what the country has to offer.
Zimbabwe Expo 2020 Dubai Commissioner General, Mary Mubi, representatives from key agencies such as ZTA, Zimparks, Environmental management Agency, Forestry Commission and players in the aviation and hospitality industry, also attended the conference, which continues today with focus on transport and infrastructure.
