Tourism recovery, growth strategy gathers pace
GOVERNMENT says significant progress has been made on the implementation of the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, which seeks to grow the tourism economy to US$5 billion by 2025.
President Mnangagwa in August 2020 launched the tourism growth plan as he led the re-start of the sector’s contribution to the national economy after having been heavily crippled by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy is anchored on Zimbabwe’s vision to be a prime international tourist destination based on the judicious and sustainable exploitation of the unique assets of nature, culture, heritage and the built environment as espoused in National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1).
The strategy is informed by the Government’s Vision 2030 to become an upper middle income economy characterised by increased investment, decent jobs and a populace free from poverty, hunger and corruption.
Environment, Climate Change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Mangaliso Ndlovu, told the Sunday Mail Business that the implementation was now in full swing with the private sector riding on government support initiatives.
“The tourism industry was adversely affected by the Covid -19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, mainly from lockdowns, red listing and travel bans, resulting in the loss of 9 000 jobs as well as closure of tourism 37 facilities.
“Notwithstanding this, notable progress and developments have been recorded to date,” he said.
The Minister said in addition to progress already made, more needs to be done on part of the Government to ensure the tourism private sector gets adequate support.
“In this case most private sector players have not benefited from the Tourism Relief Fund and we are engaging the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development to review issues preventing access to the facility,” he said.
Government in 2020 came up with a $500 million Tourism Support Fund in guarantees for the tourism sector players to access working capital in the form of loans from banks.
An initial US$20 million was injected into the Fund as seed capital while Value Added Tax (VAT) payable by tourists for accommodation and visitor services was waived to allow breathing space.
Minister Ndlovu said his Ministry is also engaging the Ministry of Health and Child Care to push for the acquisition of more Covid19 PCR testing machines in order for the country to achieve head immunity which is key for the tourism industry.
The Minister said on the domestic tourism front, the launch of the ZimBho campaign in 2020 helped improve domestic tourism; and increased domestic entries into National Parks to 251 088 in 2021 compared to 173 714 in 2020.
He said the tourism investment promotion resulted in tourism investments increasing from US$86 million in 2020 to US$142 million in 2021.
“Some notable investments are the Palm River Hotel, Zambezi Boutique Guesthouse, and Nkosi Guest Lodge (Victoria Falls); Makhado in Beitbridge; and the Beethoven Hotel in Harare. Hot Plate Grill restaurants were opened throughout the country,” he said.
He noted that a new 3 000 seater conferencing facility is under construction in Mutoko, while another 250 seater has been constructed at Village Hotel in Gweru while major renovations and refurbishments were carried out at the Victoria Falls Rainbow, the Cresta Group of Hotels, and the Victoria Falls Hotel.
In addition to that, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (Zimparks) is refurbishing its lodges in Nyanga, Vumba, and Chimanimani National Parks at the same time it also launched new tourism products to diversify attractions in the national parks and these include Sikato Lion Encounter in Masvingo province; the Chinhoyi Lion Encounter in Mashonaland West Province; and the Tshabalala Lion Encounter and Entertainment area in Matabeleland South province.
The Minister said a total of US$133.2 million was invested in Public-Private Partnership tourism-related construction projects between 2021 and 2022 involving the Forestry Commission; and the Bulawayo Kraal is being reconstructed.
In terms of accessibility of tourism in Zimbabwe,
several international airlines have returned to Zimbabwe’s skies.
Minister Ndlovu said Qatar Airways commenced flights to Zimbabwe on 1 August, 2021, MACK Air of Botswana started servicing the Kasane-Victoria Falls route on 1 May, 2021, Fast Jet has scheduled flights that connect Victoria Falls to Kruger National Park through Mpumalanga that were introduced in March 2022.
He said Falcon Air Safaris, a subsidiary of the District Development Fund, is now servicing Hwange Airport.
“The District Development Fund is also refurbishing the Chapoto (in Kanyemba) and Binga Aerodromes to support geographical spread of tourism, Luftansa’s Eurowings will service the Frankfurt-Windhoek-Victoria Falls route commencing on 30 March, 2022 while the Kariba Airport is being refurbished by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe,” Minister Ndlovu said.
He added that these services are in addition to those already being offered by Ethiopian Airlines, Kenya Airways, South African AirLink, Rwandair, Air Tanzania and Emirates.
The Minister said three tourism promotion programmes launched during the period being reviewed include Zimbho (domestic tourism promotion), visit Zimbabwe (international tourism promotion) launched in partnership with the Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation to use Cricket as a vehicle to promote destination Zimbabwe; and meet in Zimbabwe (promotion of meetings and exhibitions.)
The Tourism Minister said the country’s tourism digital marketing campaign was rated by Dubai Expo 2020 as one of the top 8 out of the 109 exhibiting countries.
The 2020 and 2021 editions of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo were held virtually with limited participants and the 2022 Edition will be held in Bulawayo as a full physical event.
Minister Ndlovu said his Ministry partnered with tourism players in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA) to promote regional tourism through the highly successful Africa’s Eden Travel and Trade Show, which was held on 7-10 February, 2022.
It was attended by 70 international buyers from 23 countries, and 113 exhibitors from the KAZA region.
“Furthermore, football personalities, such as Tino Kadewere and Marvellous Nakamba have been roped in as Tourism Ambassadors to grow the brand and popularise the country as a tourist destination of choice. These
Ambassadors and others are influential on the international arena,” he said.
Under the tourism support facilities, the Minister said significant achievements attained under this facility include the waiver of Value Added tax on Domestic Tourism and Duty Exemption Facility.
He said these will help improve access to tourism products and services by the domestic market through extended price reductions.
The Minister said that a total of 117 applicants received tax rebates valued at US$11 301 721 in 2021, compared to the 81 applicants that received US$2 399 957 in 2020. The rebates were for capital goods and specified motor vehicles.
Minister Ndlovu said the government paid $198 million to support operations of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, whose operations are normally funded by a 2 percent levy charged on services provided to both domestic and international tourists.
“Tourism operators are now allowed to retain 100 percent of their foreign earnings while the Tourism Satellite Account which is a statistical tool for the measurement of tourism’s contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, trade and employment in the economy, is now operational,” he said.
Meanwhile, a recent Cabinet meeting resolved that the Statutory Instrument on Duty rebates be amended to give the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority the exclusive mandate to recommend applicants to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development for duty processing.
Cabinet also noted that the gazetting of major water bodies like Tugwi-Mukosi and Gwayi Shangani Dams as Conservation and Recreational Parks should be expedited to unlock investment potential.
Minister Ndlovu said his ministry was working closely with that of Finance and Economic Development to come up with an effective financing plan that can complement the recovery of the Tourism Sector.