Story by Tichaona Kurewa
Zimbabwe has surpassed the US$5 billion tourism industry well ahead of 2025 target
Increased investment in infrastructure, marketing campaigns, targeting key markets and the development of new tourism products have been attributed to the current growth of the tourism industry.
“We have passed the US$5 billion tourism sector. The challenge we have is our operators, people do not declare the actual figures of occupancy and money because they would want to cut down that two per cent remit to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, but if you look at the number now we have reached the US$5 billion tourism industry. We are now working towards becoming number one contributor to the fiscus. We are going after mining and agriculture, soon we will be number one,” indicated the Deputy Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Honourable Tongai Mnangagwa.
He also indicated that government was pushing for the incorporation of technology to increase the level of accountability in the tourism sector.
“We are coming up with a systems software where every organisation is going to be forced, not forced, but we will legislate it through law. We are now working on legislation around tourism. Every organisation has to adhere and use that infrastructure that will calculate for us automatically who came in, how many days they spent. It will be easy, it will be digital that is where the world is going,” he added.
Destination Zimbabwe has unique attractions that can further grow the tourism industry.
“We have a beautiful country, with exceptional tourism attraction areas. Here we have the mighty Victoria Falls and the mighty Zambezi. We have Nyanga, we have Great Zimbabwe, we can go on and on,” said Sterling Group chairperson, Mr Wilbert Manyika.
The news come on the heels of 2023 statistics revealing that the tourism sector is now contributing 12 percent to the national gross domestic product.
This growth translates into job creation, foreign exchange earnings, and overall socio-economic development for Zimbabwe.
