eBusiness Weekly
Enacy Mapakame
The newly elected Victoria Falls Mayor Somvelo Dhlamini, says the resort town will focus on improving service delivery as part of a five-year plan that seeks to attract tourists and investors from both domestic and international markets.
The plan centres on infrastructure development ranging from water, roads, street lighting and sewer reticulation.
Although the majestic Victoria Falls is already a global tourist attraction and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Dhlamini said improving service delivery and infrastructure would further propel the image of the resort town in line with global standards.
This, he said, would further increase tourist arrivals and occupancy levels in the resort town which is already on a growth trajectory.
In 2017 average occupancy rate was 92 percent, up from 85 percent in 2016.
Infrastructural refurbishments including the Victoria Falls International Airport, commissioned in November 2016, was instrumental in improving accessibility to the resort town.
“I have a vision that stretches from now up to 2023, it’s a five year plan aimed at improving on service delivery,” he said in an interview in Victoria Falls on the sidelines of a Standards Association of Zimbabwe (SAZ) Leader’s Conference.
“We want to improve our infrastructure, roads, water, street lighting and sewer reticulation. We have put everything under a strategic plan code named WASH, we are ready to mobilise funding so that we can roll out the programme,” he said.
He added that they would work closely with tourism and hospitality industry players in the town as the ultimate goal is to boost both domestic and international tourist arrivals in the town and country as a whole.
The country is currently ranked 114th out of 141 in the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index, and is expected to experience a boom in tourism in 2018, with tourist arrivals projected to reach 2,5 million on the advent of heightened economic activity following last year’s political reforms.
The projection of 2,5 million tourist arrivals in 2018 is attainable as the Government intends on relaxing the visa policy for tourists to incentivise international tourists.
Dhlamini said engagement with hoteliers, tour operators and safari companies would be key in shaping and implementing the plan.
“We have to work with players in the tourism industry, the businesses that are into hotels, tour operators and safari companies, all the players in the tourism industry so that we can share notes as we move towards achieving a common goal.
“We want to make sure we create an environment that is conducive for tourism to thrive and boost its contribution to the economy,” he said.
Analysts say it is also crucial for Zimbabwe to continue building on current efforts to improve the requisite airport and road infrastructure, for increased connectivity, as well as provision for utilities and ICT, as a means to creating an enabling environment for the industry.
Victoria Falls has been identified as a special economic zone for tourism.
Dhlamini was upbeat of a tourism boom in the resort town and the country as a whole, saying the sector’s performance year to date was already ahead of same period last year. Domestic tourism is seen increasing on the back of the increase in disposable incomes.
“Right now there are a lot of tourists coming here, both domestic and international. The situation is promising if we are to maintain what we already have now,” he said.
Tourism in general has been identified as one of the low hanging fruits and anticipated to experience a boom on the advent of economic optimism ushered in by President Mnangagwa.
Last year total annual tourist arrivals were estimated at 2,3 million, an increase of 6,10 percent from 2,17 million in the prior year.
Average hotel room occupancy rate increased by 2 percent to 48 percent in 2017 and the figure is projected to grow this year.
Furthermore, the thrust is to strengthen destination marketing, paying special attention to high-spending markets to increase tourism receipts in 2018 should benefit the country’s tourism industry.
