Minanda Tours’ push for domestic tourism
“THIS strategy will also facilitate robust investment into the tourism sector to create employment and help support livelihoods.”
These words were said by President Emmerson Mnangagwa during the relaunch of National Tourism Recovery Strategy in Victoria Falls in August as part of e orts to jumpstart the hospitality industry.
The relaunch exercise was necessitated by Covid-19 rami cations that decimated the tourism industry with most countries around the globe closing their borders in e orts to curtail rampant spreading of the disease.
The country’s First Citizen also challenged small-to-medium tourism entrepreneurs to utilise the Tourism Revolving Fund meant to bail out players within the hospitality industry.
He also added that e orts must be made to ensure that Zimbabwe reclaims its place as a destination of choice for both local and foreign visitors.
This could be made possible through sustainable exploitation of the unique endowments of nature, culture, heritage and other environmental assets.
Sometime in May this year, yours truly in one of the articles in his Travelling and
Touring columns highlighted the need for players in the hospitality industry to pull up their proverbial stockings in efforts to revive the tourism industry. Ingenuity is now the catchword. Mnangagwa did not mince his words when he also challenged those in the sector to be creative and innovative in order to achieve increased domestic and international arrivals.
And all this borders on innovation of new products and services.
While other players within the tourism industry are still trying to nd their feet, it is business as usual for Thandiwe Mafa-Moyo, whose company, Minanda Tours and Travel, seems to have keenly taken on board the tourism recovery strategy.
Yours truly recently came across the Lupane-born and bred Mafa-Moyo during one of my researches on how the Tonga tribe settled in most parts of Matabeleland North during the turn of the century.
Minanda Travel and Tours is a twoyear-old Victoria Falls-based company, which specialises in holiday packages, airport transfers, adventure activities and accommodation among other tourist facilities.
Before the recent encounter, yours truly last met Mafa-Moyo more than ve years ago when she was a receptionistcum-cashier at Elephant Hills Hotel in Victoria Falls.
I “ ooded” her with an array of questions and some of them were thus: how she envisages her newly established entity post Covid-19, any particular target market(s), inroads into cultural tourism and lackadaisical approach to localbased visitors.
In line with Mnangagwa’s call to lure local visitors, Minanda Tours and Travel has already started on a programme where local tourists would be awarded preferential discounts at most hotels and lodges.
This also includes various activities associated with particular tourism entities.
This, however, might need some form of buy-in from other players such as hotels, lodges and service or activity providers.
Now it would be ideal to hear from the host’s — and not horse’s — mouth as Mafa-Moyo did justice to an array of the above mentioned questions.
“Minanda Tours and Travel came into being some two years ago and was fully registered as a company and is also a liated to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA),” Mafa-Moyo said.
“Unfortunately, while the company was still in the edgling stage in the exciting hospitality industry, Covid-19 struck and this was a wake-up call to some of us.
“However, this pandemic has taught tourism players on the need to work together and also share valuable ideas during these trying and challenging times.”
She said when she established Minanda Travel and Tours together with her husband, their main thrust was to heed government’s call to try and engage locals to sample the country’s premier tourist resort areas.
“We need to preserve our heritage, ora and fauna that still evoke so much enthusiasm and remains so pristine for our future generations,” she said.
“There is utmost need to incentivise local visitors through special discount o ers, package promotions and other related issues such as preferential rates for local senior citizens.
“I rmly believe that travel and touring companies must play fundamental roles in nding ways on how locals can also be a force to reckon with in terms of local visitors. Charity begins at home and the hospitality industry is no exception.
“The onus is upon travel and tour entities because we act as midwives between the clients and service providers.
“The tourism industry currently needs to be handled delicately postCovid-19 if we are to gain local con - dence in terms of all visitor aspects.
“When we did provide our services during the Africa Regional Forum for Sustainable Development conference that was held in February this year in Victoria Falls, my team discovered a lot in terms of tourists’ preferences.
Mafa-Moyo, however, said there could be some light at the end of the tourism tunnel as there was unanimity on heeding calls by government to meet the needs of our local visitors.
“With the right attitude and requisite skills, we will certainly be getting there in trying to portray Zimbabwe as a destination of choice for both local and international visitors,” she said.
Mafa-Moyo did her early education at Tshongokwe Primary School in Lupane before moving to Victoria Falls for her secondary education. She later enrolled at the School of Hospitality and Tourism in Bulawayo.
She is also a quali ed tour guide whose passion besides travelling is to ensure that nothing is impossible for the girl child in terms of playing a central role in the country’s economic development.
Her role model in the tourism fraternity is Terie Leach, a Binga-based businesswoman who is making it big in the hospitality industry through Lakeview Inn Lodge.
However, as the name suggest, it will certainly be described in the forthcoming articles as it is considered to be a place that has gradually turned Binga into a hospitality jewel.
Of late, a number of fellow members from the Fourth Estate have been descending on the Eastern Highlands and showing all and sundry places of interest which make Manicaland province tick in terms of tourism.
The gold medal gong in terms of popularity goes to Mutarazi Falls whose average height of 772 metres (2 533 feet) is considered to be the second highest in Africa and 17th in the world.
Its adrenalin- lled Sky Walk and Sky Line facility is not for the faint-hearted as yours truly is talking from experience and looking forward for a second bite of the cherry.
Hats o to the fellow scribes for doing such sterling work as the country seeks to retain its hospitality status on the global tourism map.
We will certainly reclaim the top spot in the world of tourism.
Comments always welcome on email: dubebasill@gmail.com or Twitter:@DubeBurzil