The Sunday News
Nkosilathi Sibanda, Business Correspondent
TOURISM authorities have strengthened efforts to grow tourism in the country by calling upon all industry players to come up with new collaborative destination marketing strategies that will see domestic tourists’ figures rising in the Easter holidays.
Premised on the #ZimBho Vakatsha campaign fronted by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) and Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ), the call to combine destination promotion dove-tails with the Domestic Tourism Strategies supported by the Government’s National Development Strategy (NDS-1) economic plan.
The NDS-1 acknowledges that the tourism sector was one of the worst-hit sectors by the Covid-19 pandemic and the sector’s growth lay on diversity and innovation in the coming years.
ZTA, in its first industry report of the year said while there is a celebratory mood after Covid-19 restrictions, it was advisable for tour and hospitality companies to pull resources and market as one entity.
To do this, the ZTA and the TBCZ have partnered to boost the domestic tourism campaign through intense marketing. ZTA head corporate affairs Mr Godfrey Koti said the new destination marketing model will create awareness among locals to all attractions within Zimbabwe.
Mr Godfrey Koti
“This is an opportunity for all tourism operators to develop and promote their own tourism products and packages suitable for the domestic market.
“We are inviting all registered tourism operators to share their domestic market packages or discounted rates including packages and incentives for the civil service, school tourism as well as a diaspora tourism strategy. These will be used to drive the campaign and will be promoted on all our platforms,” he said.
The move by ZTA and TBCZ comes after noticing that since travel restrictions were lifted, locals were not visiting places of tourism interest. Promotion of domestic tourism has been at the lead of programmes aimed at helping the industry get back to its feet.
The Government last year scrapped Value Added Tax (VAT) on the tourism industry as it moved to drum up support for the domestic tourism campaign.
In doing away with the levy, the Government also unveiled the ZimBho promotion which was part of a raft of measures being implemented in reviving the tourism sector which was hard hit by effects of Covid-19.
At least 80 percent of Zimbabwe’s tourism activity, as noted by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) is done by international tourists. The industry now pins hope on the local travel enthusiast.
Under the domestic tourism strategy, it is hoped that the industry will restore its place as one of the leading employers and create a culture of travel and tour among residents. Meanwhile, ZTA acting chief executive Mr Givemore Chidzidzi said the industry had hoped for a full recovery, amid the unpredictable Covid-19 pandemic.
“The outlook for the tourism sector is seemingly unclear as the pandemic according to health experts is mutating.
However, we remain hopeful with the vaccination rollout programmes underway as we work towards getting ready for a life post Covid-19. For us as the Zimbabwe tourism sector, this calls for a coordinated approach for the revival of the tourism economy,” said Mr Chidzidzi.
