‘Offer flexible, competitive rates to locals’

PLAYERS in the hospitality industry should be flexible and offer competitive rates to locals during the forthcoming festive season in order to promote domestic tourism, an official has said.

In an interview on Friday, Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) president, Mr Farai Chimba, said players in the industry should appreciate the importance of domestic tourism to the development of the sector and the economy in general.

“Hospitality and tourism operators have been encouraged to assist in developing domestic tourism by being flexible and offering competitive rates,” he said.

“Operators have also been encouraged to spruce up their establishments to improve ambience whilst ensuring that their service and product standards are at the right levels so as to deliver value for money to customers.”

Mr Chimba said tourism players were also being urged to embrace new technologies in marketing their businesses to both Zimbabweans and outsiders.

“Operators have also been encouraged to make use of social media and digital marketing channels to advertise and promote their properties and the packages they would be offering,” he said.

Mr Chimba also urged Zimbabweans to visit local places of interest in order to know their country better as well as contribute to national development.

Meanwhile, he said most resort places around the country were fully booked for the forthcoming festive season.

“The resort destinations around the country are reporting fully booked or near full status. Usually, city hotels do not record much traffic during the Christmas period.

“Nyanga, Kariba, Masvingo and Victoria Falls are reporting increased activities as people want to move away from the hectic city life,” he said.

Mr Chimba took the opportunity to call on the responsible authorities to facilitate uninterrupted power supply to the holiday resorts as unavailability would ruin the country’s image.

“We also expect to have stability in power availability both from the national grid as well as from the backup facilities in the hospitality establishments, as lack of power would tarnish the delivery of a truly Zimbabwean experience.

“In addition, we would like to urge all those driving to take exercise caution on the roads and avoid speeding,” he said.
Hospitals in holiday resorts should also be stocked with drugs to enable them to respond to health emergencies and routine medical requirements of tourists and local residents, he said.

The Government has since heeded calls by players in the hospitality sector to expand regional airstrips to facilitate faster movement between destinations whilst also enabling more places to be accessed by travellers.

FASTJET

For example, expansion of the Victoria Falls International Airport saw African Airlines like Ethiopian Airlines, Air Botswana, Fastjet, Airlink and Kenya Airways increasing flight frequencies to the resort city.

It also attracted new airlines like Eurowings from Germany and Mack Air from Botswana. New Ziana