Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu
By Dickson Bandera
Zimbabwe will reinvigorate tourism awareness with a number of programmes and activities lined up during the month of September in line with the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) declared Tourism Month.
September is regarded the Tourism Month world-wide, following a declaration by the UNWTO who set aside the month to foster awareness on the critical role of the tourism sector.
Member states take this opportunity to create awareness amongst it’s people, an initiative which ultimately will contribute to the growth of the industry.
Zimbabwe, which has potential to become a tourism powerhouse in the world due to its vast natural resources and wildlife, has been on a serious drive to boost arrivals and receipts through a number of strategies.
This has seen the nation recording tremendous growth of the industry, with developments seen in infrastructure, and the general business environment.
In a statement, Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu, said Zimbabwe was joining the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) member States in celebrating World Tourism Day, which is held annually on September 27.
The 2023 World Tourism Day celebrations will run under the theme, “Tourism and Green Investments”.
The day was set aside by the UNWTO to create awareness among the international community on the socio-economic benefits derived from the travel and tourism sector together with its entire value chains.
Zimbabwe will this year celebrate the day in Mutoko, Mashonaland East, at Suskwe Lodges on September 27 where a host of activities that include live exhibitions by youths and women, artists performance and a fun run, have been lined up.
It has become a tradition that the celebrations are hosted in collaboration with provinces on a rotational basis, a schedule which Minister Ndlovu said this is premised on government’s inclusiveness policy.
“This tradition is in compliance with the Government’s thrust of leaving no one and no place behind in terms of tourism development and equitable distribution of tourism benefits to local communities,” he said.
The youthful minister shared some refreshing statistics indicating an increase in tourist arrivals, receipts and investments, which he attributed to global and local factors.
In the first half of 2023, Zimbabwe registered an increase of 62 percent international tourist arrivals from 366 062 last year to 591 524 in 2023.
“The substantial rise in tourist arrivals is attributed to a number of factors chief among them the resumption of travel globally, enhanced measures to foster recovery and growth in the tourism sector and the enhanced accessibility to Zimbabwe on account of introduction of new airlines flying into the country.
Minister Ndlovu paid particular tribute to the government for spearheading policies that promote the tourism industry.
“In addition, the confidence in destination Zimbabwe arising from the Government’s robust engagement and re-engagement efforts coupled with aggressive marketing strategies at regional and global levels resulted in destination endorsements by a number of international organisations, positioning Zimbabwe as a distinctive and most preferred destination.
“More importantly too, has been the promotion of Zimbabwe as a meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) destination. In the same period, tourism receipts increased by 16 percent from US$343,1 million in 2022 to US$397,7 million.
During the period under review, investments showed a positive trajectory as they were 24 percent higher than that in 2022,” said Minister Ndlovu.
Local investors contributed a greater percentage of the registered investment inflows.
Investment in the tourism sector is expected to increase with the growing confidence in destination Zimbabwe and financial support from the Tourism Revolving Fund put in place by Government to assist operators in refurbishments, expansion and retooling the sector.