Zim’s tourism shows signs of recovery

SAMUEL NJINGA IN MASVINGO

Zimbabwe’s tourism sector is showing signs of recovery after Covid-19 brought the sector to a standstill in the past two years, Business Times can report.

Government removed a number of restrictions , reopening tourist  destinations to local and international tourists.

The administration also rolled out a vaccination programme.

Masvingo Tourism area manager, Daniel Mumpande, said the sector rebounded in the first quarter of this year.

He said room occupants went up to 20%, 37% and 43% in January, February and March respectively for the major hotels across the country, largely driven by conferencing during the Easter holiday.

“Conferencing  was a major boost.  Most  were offering 30 to 40% discounts during the Easter holiday,” Mumpande said.

He added: “The 37% and 43% witnessed in February and March pattern is clear evidence that the relaxation lockdown and COVID 19 restriction had a major contribution towards this achievement. Hotels were now allowed to operate at 100%.  The 43% occupants for March implies that the sector had literally opened up. People were now free to do most of the things and so was the tourism sector.”

He also said  there was a drive to promote domestic tourism.

“We also intend to promote domestic tourism packages whereby facilities will sell at a discount rate from service providers and put that to the tourism public in order to promote domestic tourism,”Mumpande said.