‘Total lockdown will cripple tourism sector’

THE Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) says caution is needed to avoid a return to a national lockdown as this would cripple the sector’s recovery and gains being registered in the economy.

The council has criticised calls by the Confederation of Zimbabwe Retailers (CZR) for a national lockdown. In their call, the retailers have attributed the recent surge in Covid-19 cases in most parts of the country to lack of physical distancing and disregard to wearing of masks.

The situation has prompted the Government to pronounce localised lockdown measures in selected parts of the country to curb the spread of the deadly pandemic. Among the affected places is Bulawayo, Kwekwe and Karoi.

In a statement, TBCZ president Mr Wengayi Nhau said his organisation was opposed to a national lockdown.

“TBCZ does not support a national lockdown and urges caution in the methods used, so that gains made in saving lives are not countered by immeasurable economic ruin,” he said.

“The travel and tourism sector has achieved high levels of vaccination, estimated at between 75 and 80 percent in Victoria Falls, for example, and we encourage this in other business sectors.

“In this regard, we find it irresponsible for CZR to make this call and we remind the association that its members who are supermarkets were among the very few operations allowed to operate in a national lockdown and are therefore, not qualified to make calls that are prejudicial to other legitimate operations.”

Mr Nhau said the travel and tourism sector has been in the forefront of efforts to support the national drive to eliminate Covid-19 and continues to support this effort wholeheartedly.

“A national lockdown has consequences that are massively destructive, as can be seen by the unprecedented decimation of livelihoods and incomes for families and communities experienced in the wake of full lockdown measures, irrespective of the intent of that lockdown,” he said.

Since March last year, the travel and tourism sector has been the hardest hit by lockdown measures but was starting to recover.

Mr Nhau said TBCZ believes the sector would regain the momentum to re-employ thousands of people who have lost jobs and bring a measure of relief to the affected families.

“There are still businesses in our sector that are closed, such as restaurants, while others are not able to perform the task that has kept them operational in the past year-and-a-half, that is the hosting of conferences by hotels.

“Without in any way discounting the horror of Covid, there are ways forward that do not destroy lives through economic ruin and it is these ways that must be identified and implemented,” he said.

“We urge a balanced programme of action by the authorities and avoidance of knee-jerk reactions that are desperately harmful in other ways.”-chronicle.cl.zw