Story by Kenias Chivuzhe
Manicaland province will host the 18th edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo as the prime tourism event that was only being held in Bulawayo for the past 17 years is now being taken to other provinces in line with the devolution agenda.
In an interview during the tour of Mutare Sports Club in Mutare, which will be the main venue for Africa’s premier tourism event between the 10th and the 12th of September, the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Honourable Babra Rwodzi spoke on the decision to take the tourism event to Manicaland province.
“The decision that prompted us to host Sanganai away from the usual venue for the past 17 years, which is ZITF in Bulawayo, is to follow the vision of the President and achieve Vision 2030 of an upper middle income economy,” she said.
“We have realised that we are one of the key ministries which are pillars to the economy of the country and the President has, since 2017, been telling the world that ‘I will achieve an upper middle income economy by devolving my economy and by taking all the programmes of the government to every corner of the country, leaving no one and no place behind’. Sanganai is a huge event, and we thought the event would contribute towards the growth of GDP in Manicaland.
“We did not randomly choose Manicaland, but we agreed that every year, we must have a destination that we speak loud about so as to promote and market it. As a strategy, we want to go to different provinces every year. Victoria Falls is well known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but Victoria Falls is not Zimbabwe. This year, we are in Manicaland, and next year, we will be in Masvingo before moving to Mashonaland West. We want to promote local destinations.
“We need to promote Nyanga, Hotsprings and our mountains among other destinations. Mutare Sports club will host the main events this year. Last year, tourism contributed 12 percent to the GDP overtaking agriculture due to the El Nino induced drought and mining due to the fluctuation of the prices. Hence, tourism is important for the country.”
Manicaland Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution, Advocate Misheck Mugadza is convinced that his province will benefit from hosting the event.
“We are happy to be hosting this event this year and we can see that the President’s devolution policy is being implemented and as Manicaland we are ready for the challenge.
“Manicaland has many outstanding tourism destinations that include Nyangani Mountains, Mutarazi falls and Zipline, Nyangome Falls, Bridal Falls, Nyachowe Falls and many more tourism destinations.
“This place should be able to accommodate the event. We were projecting the tourism sector in Manicaland to contribute seven percent to the provincial GDP, but with the province hosting this big event we are now projecting it to contribute over ten percent to the provincial GDP,” he said.
The Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo is an annual tourism trade fair organised by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority to showcase a wide range of Africa’s best tourism products, and attracts international visitors, exhibitors, investors, suppliers, buyers and the media from across the world.
