The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has complained about its US$2 657 000 allocation by Treasury in the 2017 national budget, saying it is not enough for them to carry out their mandate of marketing and promoting the destination.

Spokesperson, Sugar Chagonda, said there was a need to prioritise entities such as the tourism sector that had the potential to turn around the economy.

“We know that things are tight for the Government but we feel that there is a need to resource the ZTA so that we can invest in our mandate. The figure is insignificant, in line with our proposed projects,” said Chagonda.

He questioned how ZTA could harness the potential of tourism without investment and pointed out that destination marketing required substantial financial support.

According to ZTA, attending all the international shows where it usually had a presence would be difficult with the current budget allocation, however the organisation had recently attended the FITUR Tourism and Trade expo in Madrid, Spain.

“In tourism, where 0.8% growth is projected for the year, the thrust will be on promoting and improving the Zimbabwe brand as a competitive tourist destination under the theme International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development,” said Finance Minister, Patrick Chinamasa. He said the tourism sector would be supported by measures to remove barriers to free movement of tourists into and within the country, including the number of non-security or crime roadblocks on the roads.