The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has increased efforts to develop sports tourism, focusing on sporting events currently being held in the country.
One such event is the ongoing cricket test series against Sri Lanka, hosted at Harare Sports Club. This is Zimbabwe’s first international match following the lifting of a ban placed by the International Cricket Council on the country last year.
The country has also recently hosted Zambia and Madagascar for the Afro-Basket basketball pre-qualifiers, determining who will be competing in the qualifiers in 2021 in Rwanda.
“Sports tourism is a fast-growing sector of the global travel industry and equates to $7.68 billion, which is no small feat, and we are doing all we can to garner all the numbers we can get,” said ZTA Head of Corporate Affairs, Godfrey Koti.
This year, ZTA plans to partner with domestic sports teams in a bid to promote sports tourism.
“Used to its full potential, sports tourism can be a catalyst for the development of infrastructure such as stadiums, hotels, transportation networks, roads and telecommunications,” said Koti.
