ZTA partners sport to market tourism

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has stepped up its domestic tourism marketing efforts by partnering Sports Tourism Inc to hold the Victoria Falls Sports Tourism Experience.

The festival is scheduled for September 24 to 26 to promote sports tourism, marketing destination Zimbabwe and creating sustainable development for marginalised communities in resort towns.

ZTA head corporate affairs Mr Godfrey Koti said they were approached by Sports Tourism Inc to partner them in the initiative and they were immediately impressed.

“We saw an opportunity to market the destination using sport,” he said. “The festival will help us propel the domestic tourism drive that is currently underway, the ZimBho campaign.

“The sports tourism concept is now a big product across the globe. We believe that there is a massive opportunity for collaboration with sport to further reach critical masses. This will allow us to position Zimbabwe as a must visit destination for both local and international tourists.”

The Sports Tourism Experience will incorporate sporting codes that include golf, tennis, mountain biking, marathon and aerobic events, all of which will be hosted at various venues with the adequate protocols in place to ensure Covid-19 regulations are being observed.

Mr Malvin Kanjere, the public relations and marketing director of Ecotourism Africa and Sports Tourism Inc., said the aim for developing the Sports Tourism Experience was to help revive domestic tourism and support the continued collaborative efforts of the Government and the private sector to spur the recovery of tourism.

“We have been fortunate to collaborate with a diverse array of partners and sponsors to make this happen because we are all focused on the same goal: enhancing domestic tourism and supporting the recovery efforts,” he said.

Before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, sports tourism was becoming one of the fastest growing sectors of the global travel industry.-herald.cl.zw