Story by Fairstars Mukungurutse
GOVERNMENT has reaffirmed its commitment to continue fostering the growth of the tourism and hospitality industry as the country targets to attain an upper middle-income society by 2030.
Surpassing agriculture and mining, the tourism and hospitality industry registered tremendous growth in 2024, accounting for 12 % of the country’s GDP.
In an interview with ZBC News after addressing students at the Zimbabwe Staff College this Monday, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister, Honourable Barbara Rwodzi said the government has put in place a raft of measures to consolidate the tourism industry as one of the top contributors to the Gross Domestic Product, alongside mining, agriculture and manufacturing.
“We had an engagement with the Staff of the Defense Forces today, where we were discussing the contribution of the tourism industry to the country’s economy, and we were giving them a layout of what the tourism industry is all about, how we are guided by the constitution, the President’s Vision 2030, as well as the policies and how we have formulated our strategies to be where we are,” she said.
“We were telling them the figures for 2023, in comparison with 2024 figures, whereby tourism was the highest sector that contributed to the GDP by 12 %, and how we achieved that. Agriculture was affected by climate change due to the drought that we experienced in 2024, and mining was affected by the fluctuation of global prices, and, that resulted in tourism being the number one contributor to the GDP.
“We spoke on the strategies are we employing that have place Zimbabwe where it is. We have expressed our gratitude to the First Lady, the patron of our ministry, because of her initiatives, she brought UN Tourism to Zimbabwe and it hosted a big event in our country, which has endorsed the destination, and made a number of people globally know that Zimbabwe is safe, just by seeing UN Tourism hosting the event.
“That event has brought a lot of people, and until now, January to March has always been known as a low season for business across the country, but in tourism, it is a good season because people are still coming,” Minister Rwodzi said.
In 2024, tourism receipts rose to US$1.2 billion from US$1.16 billion the previous year, while investment in the tourism industry rose from US$172 million in 2023 to US$191 million in 2024.
