THE tourism sector in Zimbabwe has experienced a 56% rise, positioning the country as a leading destination for global travellers, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Barbra Rwodzi has said.
Forbes recently ranked Zimbabwe at the top of the list of the world’s best countries to visit in 2025.
Speaking in the Senate recently, Rwodzi said the recognition was a result of Zimbabwe’s strategies towards achieving Vision 2030.
“When the United Nations came last year, that was a very good indication that, indeed, Zimbabwe is now good to be visited and that is what happened. (The number of) tourists increased.
“The Forbes magazine sent their people. They have their magazine called Kayaki and their people go and research on what is happening with regard to tourism.
“They discovered that Zimbabwe had more tourists than France, Italy or South Africa. The most important thing is the percentage of growth. Our tourism increased to 56% compared to last year.
“All those other big countries grew with around 10% or 12% and our increase was 56%. The vision of the President is based on the fact that the President realised that for people to visit the country, there was need to modernise the airport.”
She said Victoria Falls International Airport was the best in the region compared to Livingstone, Kasane, Katima Mulilo and another one in Angola.
“It is the only airport where an (Airbus) A380 can land. Very big aeroplanes are landing. By that time, we count the people who have come into Zimbabwe.
“Even if they were to go to other countries, we count them as they visited us. Wherever they then spread, whether they travel by road or other means, we are now counted as a hub.
“So, the statistics consider people who land in Victoria Falls. The world over, it was realised that we invited the highest number of tourists.”
Rwodzi, however, bemoaned that tourism facilities and attractions were not being enjoyed by Zimbabweans.
“At the moment, most of our operators are taking advantage of our economic situation. We are not using our local currency. We are using international currency. When a Zimbabwean visits a facility, they are supposed to be using our local currency,” she said.
“If they are using international currency, the price must be different because when an international tourist is coming to the country, they already know they should be using international currency, but that given is, it ‘may’ be because of our economic crisis due to sanctions, we are using US dollars as our currency.
“It has to show a difference when a Zimbabwean is paying and when an international visitor is paying. So, we are mitigating that through the law.”
The minister said this was affecting domestic tourists who are travelling as families, as individuals or as couples.
“They are the ones who are affected by this but in our definition of domestic tourism, it does not end there. When we contributed 17% to the growth of the GDP, most of the money came from domestic tourism because more meetings are done domestically by our government.
“There are a lot of meetings. All those workshops and conferences, we count those under a cluster called MICE [Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions] tourism, which is meetings, incentives, conferences and events.
“When people are having a wedding and they are visiting Masvingo, it is domestic tourism. When you are having a meeting of some nature, it is all domestic tourism. So, that is why domestic tourism contributes more than international.”
-newsda
