Story by John Nhandara
More than 400 companies and eight countries have registered for this year’s 17th edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo to be held from the 12th to the 14th of this month in Bulawayo.
In a media briefing in Harare this Wednesday, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Honourable Barbra Rwodzi said the expo will feature several activities to unlock investment opportunities for tourism players.
“We look forward to the expo being the key tourism exhibition in Africa as we are inviting other regional countries to take part and pitch their investment opportunities and tourism products portfolios. Exhibitor recruitment is already in progress and to date 410 companies have registered. The expo will bring operators from countries such as South Africa, Namibia and Botswana,” she said.
Meanwhile, the government has launched the World Tourism Month of September, with World Tourism Day celebrated on the 27th of September annually.
“The celebrations are coming on the background of renewed global tourism recovery with Zimbabwe also experiencing significant growth over the 2023/2024 period. The first half of the year saw the country’s tourism industry demonstrating significant growth with international arrivals increasing by 27 percent to 751,483 up from 592,567 in the same period in 2023. Correspondingly tourism receipts saw a 24 percent rise reaching 493 million US dollars compared to 398 million US dollars in the first half of 2023,” she added.
Ongoing investments in the tourism sector complemented by an enabling infrastructure such as airports and roads, are expected to spur Zimbabwe’s tourism economy.
