Story by Tichaona Kurewa
VICTORIA Falls tourism stakeholders under the banner, ‘We are Victoria Falls’ and Cape Town Tourism have partnered to jointly market the two destinations to common source markets, an initiative expected to expedite local tourism industry recovery.
The two destinations management organisations have agreed to embark on a joint marketing programme that promotes the two destinations under the theme: ‘the Ultimate African Adventure.’
Working with key airlines and private sector operators, the campaign will attract shared tourist markets to visit the two places.
“When we decided to form this destination partnership, we looked around to find out who has done that before because we didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. We found out that Cape Town had fourty four years into it and we felt it was going to be a good benchmarking city to work with. When tourists come to Africa they do not want have an experience of one city or one country, they want to have multi-cultural experiences, so by twinning we are already coming up with a package that tourists may just grab of the shelve and say this is what we are going to do instead of making a package on their own. So this is going to increase our tourist arrivals in this destination,” said Mrs Barbra Murasiranwa-Hughes ‘We Are Victoria Falls’ Board Chairperson.
“Cape Town and Victoria Falls are two iconic destinations in southern Africa and many tourists have us at the top of their dream bucket-list. This partnership gives us the opportunity to forge a strong relationship,” noted Ms Winnie Muchanyuka Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Chief Executive.
Mr. Tawanda Gusha, CEO of Airports Company Zimbabwe said, “Working with our private sector partners to support the connectivity between these two cities is key. We are committed to continuing our successful air services development program and supporting this important route.”
Airports Company of Zimbabwe and Cape Town Tourism have pledged their support to the new partnership.
“Working with our private sector partners to support the connectivity between these two cities is key. We are committed to continuing our successful air services development program and supporting this important route,” he added.
Ms Leigh Dawber Cape Town Tourism, Chief Marketing Officer said, “A huge congratulations to We Are Victoria Falls for bringing their vision to life as this is no small feat, and we look forward to collaboratively exploring ways to positioning and uplifting tourism within an African context, by developing ways to inspire travel between our two destinations and then share any learnings and successes with the rest of the continent.”
Meanwhile, the ‘We Are Victoria Falls’ initiative was officially launched in the resort town this Friday and is expected to pull stakeholders together to improve the destination for visitors, residents, businesses and communities.
Zimbabwe is targeting a US$5 billion tourism industry by 2025.
