Tourism industry hit by skills shortage

TENDAI BHEBE IN BULAWAYO 

Zimbabwe’s tourism and hospitality industry has been severely hit by skills shortages, a development which is threatening the growth of the sector, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) CEO, Winnie Muchanyuka has said.

The tough economic environment has seen the exodus of skilled professions in all the sectors of the economy in search of the proverbial greener pastures.

Speaking at the tourism and hospitality industry meeting held in Bulawayo on Monday, Muchanyuka said the skills gap was a topical issue in the sector.

“It is critical for stakeholders here in Zimbabwe to come together to talk about this issue because we have identified that we have a real issue otherwise destination Zimbabwe is going to face major challenges in the next coming years. Collaboration among stakeholders as we are doing today is very important,” Muchanyuka said.

“And we ought to take a genuine interest in this (skills gap) issue that we have at hand.”

Zimbabwe is ranked among the top 5 destinations in Africa.

Muchanyuka said it takes a lot of effort and collaboration for Zimbabwe to climb up the ladder.

In 2020, the Government launched the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy to re-start the sector, whose contribution to the national economy was heavily crippled by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, the Government expects to increase tourism earnings to US$5bn by 2025.

Tourism is one of the key economic pillars and the sector is expected to contribute more towards economic growth in line with the upper middle-income economy vision by 2030.

Muchanyuka said Zimbabwe relied on the natural resources that it has.

“If we compare the services that we used to have in our facilities pre and post-Covid-19, there is already a gap in service delivery across the industry.

“What we rely on for tourists to come to Zimbabwe are the natural resources we have such as the Falls in Victoria Falls. Recently in Germany, we were awarded a Destination of Natural Beauty award, but natural beauty is not going to help us to move forward if we do not have the right skills to deliver, “she said.

Experts say Zimbabwe’s source markets more than doubled their 2021 levels, with arrivals from Europe increasing by 150 %. Germany, which is the country’s third largest overseas source market, saw arrivals increasing by 333 percent.

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe president, Farai Chima weighed in saying: “Capacity remains limited as the country drives more meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions business and sports tourism, which require a huge inventory of rooms at any given time. Current room stock remains low and presents opportunities for Investment.”