The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has earmarked 16 must-attend travel shows in different source markets as part of the authority’s strategy to achieve 5.1% tourism growth in 2016.
“More effective participation at international travel shows has been seen as an effective marketing tool to push tourism growth in the country. We are intensifying our efforts to promote the destination in our source markets,” said Chief Operations Officer, Givemore Chidzidzi.
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Chidzidzi said the authority had led industry to participate at Fitur in Madrid and Vakantie Beurs in The Netherlands, ITB in Berlin and would be taking part at Indaba in Durban among other travel shows.
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He said the 5.1% growth was achievable, as preliminary figures for this year showed that the country had already achieved a 9% growth in arrivals in 2015, with most of the destination’s markets registering growth.
He said focus on MICE tourism was a must after the realisation that this market segment could generate substantial traffic and revenue for the country.
“This, however, calls for serious investment in marketing and promotion in terms of budget allocation,” he said. “The visa regime has been revised and will continue to be made friendlier for visitors to come to Zimbabwe.”
Africa Albida Tourism’s Ross Kennedy said there was no reason why Zimbabwe’s tourism should not achieve the growth target as the country had the key ingredients to make tourism a shining light in the economy.
“2016 should see good growth, especially once international long-haul airlines start using the new Victoria Falls International Airport. Greater growth should follow in 2017 and beyond.”
However, he warned: “Tourism is a fickle business and while we have many positives, amazing natural resources of many kinds, incredible destinations and experiences to offer, there still remain some impediments and hindrances that our Ministry and ZTA are working aggressively to correct.”
African Bush Camps Founder and CEO, Beks Ndlovu, said the projected growth was not only achievable, but he expected the destination to surpass this growth.
“I believe it is possible to achieve this projected growth based on the challenges we faced in 2015 due to situations such as Ebola, currency down-turns etc. This year we should be expecting a larger growth than 5% and should be reaching for closer to 10% growth,” said Ndlovu.
He, however, added that the country was at a disadvantage as it was competing with destinations whose currencies were making them cheaper. He also said that tourism in East Africa was starting to pick up, particularly Kenya, which was having a bounce back from its challenges of the last two years.
