Mthuli missed on tourism, players
Local tourism players are concerned over more job losses and closure of businesses after the Government ignored their plea for a stimulus package and incentives to recover from the effects of coronavirus.
Described as a “significant omission and poorly thought out plan,” Industry executives had hoped Professor Mthuli Ncube, Finance and Economic Development Minister, would come up with a restoration package to help the industry recover from the devastating effects of the global pandemic.
Tourism is one of the sectors that has been severely hit by coronavirus, which saw countries introducing tough travel restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus first detected in China in December 2019.
During the first quarter of the year, the country recorded 65,882 tourist arrivals, a 90 percent decline from 639,356 arrivals recorded during the first quarter of 2020, according to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority.
Overseas arrivals fell by 89 percent while those from Africa declined by 90 percent. Declines in tourist arrivals ranged from 94 percent to 82 percent for all the regions. Nearly half of the entries into the country were transiting though the country with the remainder being business visitors.
National average room occupancy during the first quarter declined by 17 percent from 31 percent in 2020 to 14 percent in 2021.
All the regions in the country suffered declines ranging from -5 percent (Nyanga) to -28 percent (Victoria Falls), with no region recording average room occupancies exceeding 25 percent.
The Victoria Falls region, which is the prime tourist destination in the country, recorded the worst decline of -28 percent followed by Bulawayo region, which had -19 percent.
“We badly require incentives and support to save jobs,” Dr Emmanuel Fundira, the president of Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe told Business Weekly in an interview.
At peak, the industry employed around 150 000 people but the number has since declined to 30 000.
“It is a miss alignment to Sustainable Development Goals on poverty alleviation as 30 percent of the population depends on tourism for their live-hood,” said Dr Fundira.
“Tourism is one of the pillars of the economy designed to provide sustainable growth levels with a low investment base but very high sustainable yields both economic and social and a peace builder.”
Dr Fundira, the former chairman of ZTA said the “demise of tourism and conservation” threatens wildlife species survival, the only sustainable draw card in support of tourism and economic development.
Economist professor Gift Mugano felt the finance minister missed the opportunity to come up with a restoration package to stimulate business activity in light of Covid-19.
“One of the assumptions was that there was going to be a moderate Covid-19 but as we had witnessed, Covid-19 is not moderate,” he said.
“It showing us its ugly head and according to a study by the World Bank, businesses have recorded a reduction in sales and are facing cash flow challenges.
“I was thinking that it would have been proper to give some kind of a stimulus package to the industry to address the costs of Covid-19.
“Also from a policy perspective, I was hoping he could have removed 2 percent tax to give new breathe of air into the business.”
Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) president Vengai Nhau, said he anticipated Treasury to rescue the tourism sector ravaged by the Covid 19 pandemic.
“We expected the Minister of Finance to at least to have come up with some fiscal interventions on his budget statement, by way of statutory instruments or monetary intervention,” said Nhau.
He added: “As an industry, we work very closely with the Government and we fully appreciate their support, in terms of interventions that they have made to date especially when it comes to procurement of vaccines and making tourism a priority in terms of accessing the vaccines,” he said.-ebusinessweek
