Staff Writer
Tourism and Hospitality Minister Barbara Rwodzi says they were working on a doctrine for tourism promotion and development in order to guide and elevate the contribution of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry to the GDP of Zimbabwe.
The Tourism and Hospitality Industry contributes a significant 4.25% to the national GDP and 2% to the total employment in the country.
Speaking at the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe Conference in Nyanga, Rwodzi said the vision of the ministry was to make Zimbabwe a prime tourist destination based on the pursuance of international best practice.
“We shall transform our tourism categories into clusters that shall form the basis of our tourism promotion and tourism development strategy.
“The clusters shall include the Rural Tourism cluster, Sports Tourism Cluster, Religion Cluster, Business Cluster, Culture and Customs Cluster, Wildlife Cluster, Holidaying Cluster etc,” she said.
“In the implementation of our programmes, we shall promote and implement a collaborative whole-of-government approach. In addition, our strategy pivots on the private sector and shall also include all special interest groups in the spirit of leaving no-one and no place behind.”
She said the Zimbabwe Tourism promotion and development strategy shall be pursued by an appropriate: (1) Programming Infrastructure, (2) Staffing Infrastructure, (3) Physical (facilities) and Digital Infrastructure (ICT related), (4) Legal Infrastructure and (5) Financing Infrastructure.
“We are currently in the process of developing a focused strategy developed leveraging on our heritage. This calls for absolute clarity in understanding the mandate of the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry,” she said.
Promotion of Tourism is implemented through the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) while the Development of the tourism industry is implemented and facilitated through the Zimbabwe Tourism Fund (ZTF).
In accordance with the Tourism Act Cap 14:20, tourism Promotion and Development shall target domestic, regional and international markets.
The pillars of our strategy as a Ministry are:
(a) Policy and Administration;
(b) Tourism Development; and
(c) Tourism Promotion
About Author
