Masvingo, Buffalo Range Airport flights to resume
GOVERNMENT says plans are underway to resume scheduled flights to Masvingo and Buffalo Range in Chiredzi before the end of November as part of measures to promote tourism in the southern region.
Masvingo used to have a direct flight from Harare but they stopped in the late 1990s while the recently refurbished Buffalo Range Airport in Chiredzi last had flights at the turn of the millennium.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Masvingo nation branding workshop at a local hotel yesterday, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Dr Walter Mzembi said Masvingo and Chiredzi were developed enough to deserve an airline service.
He said his ministry has so far managed to transform tourism from being a $300 million industry and was targeting $1 billion earnings from the sector alone annually.
“We have to appreciate the importance of time here in Masvingo when people are in business. Air Zimbabwe has told us that it is possible to resume the Harare-Masvingo-Buffalo Range flight by end of November,” said Dr Mzembi.
“Our airline used to service Masvingo and we used to call it the Flame Lily and it is high time we start to use air transport. It is faster than road transport.”
Dr Mzembi said airlines will service all the tourism destinations in the country and enable tourists to access all places of attraction they would want to visit.
“Once the Masvingo airlines have resumed it will boost our tourism. Tourists come to see our Victoria Falls and return without visiting Chimanimani Mountains, Gonarezhou or the Great Zimbabwe monuments. This is because there are no connecting flights to all these areas of attraction.
“If we resume our flights tourists will be able to visit Victoria Falls come to see our Great Zimbabwe, wildlife in Gonarezhou and even Chimanimani Mountains. This adds value to our economy, hence the rationale behind the call for resumption of these flights,” he said.
Dr Mzembi said traveling for business by air has many advantages than driving to any destination in the country.
“Serious business people in the Lowveld would want to travel by air, which is faster.
“It is better to spend only 30 minutes by air than four hours by road when you are travelling for business. We have farmers with money in the Lowveld,” he said.
“Our farmers have a lot of money these days; imagine the Government has so far made payments of up to $300 million to those who have delivered their produce to the Grain Marketing Board.
“Farmers from the Lowveld will find travelling by air more convenient.
“Paying $90 for the return ticket to Harare will prove cheaper than filling your car with fuel to travel to the same destination,” he said.
Tourism contributes about 11 percent to the country’s GDP and is the second biggest employer after the civil service. — -@walterbmswazie3