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Major tourism investment conference in june

Staff Reporter 21-04-2009

AN international tourism investors’ conference is scheduled to take place in June as the sector continues to gear itself for a rebound.

This is the second major conference held to specifically look at how to change the fortunes of the sector following a stakeholders’ meeting in March this year.

Tourism has been identified as one sector that is likely to pick up fast as some of the facilities remained intact despite years of economic downturn. The Ministry of Tourism has confirmed that a conference will be held in June.

“It is expected that more than 200 potential investors will come to see what the country has on offer and it is an opportunity for local players to capitalize on the presence of the investors so and enter into partnerships and agreements,” said the ministry.

There have been a lot of favourable events happening which are likely to assist in the revival of the tourism sector. Last week the United State of America embassy in Harare announced that they had lifted the travel warning which they have been issuing for almost a decade now. This is likely to translate into more tourist arrivals as the US is one of the traditional markets for local products.

It has also emerged that there is going to be some tourists spilling into Zimbabwe from South Africa during the 2010 World Cup. Estimates have put the number of potential tourist coming as a result of the world cup at 40 000. As such it is expected that the tourism sector may recover more quickly than the other sectors. This would come as sweet news to a sector which has been falling for almost 10 years.

According to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority the number of tourists who visited Zimbabwe declined by 22 percent from 2.51 million in 2007 to 1.96 million in 2008. Tourism receipts subsequently declined by 20 percent from US$365.2 million to US$294.0 million during the same period.

An analyst with ZB Financial Holdings pointed out that the complete revival of the sector depends on the input by both Government and the private sector. "In the short to medium term, it remains imperative for the Government, ZTA and the private sector to implement measures that strategically position the nation ahead of the 2010 Soccer World Cup in South Africa. Such measures should include, but not limited to reducing operational constraints in the tourism sector, upgrading hotel infrastructure, adopting visible and credible domestic macroeconomic policies, enhancing political stability and commencement of direct flights from major tourist source markets," said the analyst.