Government sets ambitions tourism targets

ZIMBABWE has set
ambitious tourism
targets for 2020. At the
recent launch of the National
Tourism Policy in Zimbabwe,
Minister of Tourism Walter
Mzembi, expressed his
vision of a “US$5bn
(R53bn) tourism economy in
Zimbabwe by 2020”.
Walter said he would
set Zimbabwe’s tourism
performance at 30% of South
Africa’s tourism performance.
“Currently, South Africa’s
tourism economy is turning
over $12bn (R128bn) from
10 million arrivals per
annum. By 2020, we forecast
South Africa’s tourism
economy to be exceeding
$16bn (R170bn) based on
current growth strategies,”
he said.
He urged closer
co-operation with South Africa
for Zimbabwe to benefit from
the 9,9 million international
tourists who visit SA. He said
he wanted to investigate why
more international tourists
did not take an extension
visit to Zimbabwe when
visiting SA. He questioned
whether this was caused
by visa requirements, poor
product offerings and pricing
or brand perception issues,
suggesting these needed to
be addressed.
China is also high on
Walter’s agenda and he
aims to attract at least 5%
of the Chinese outbound
travel market by 2020.
He urged the Zimbabwe
government to simplify visa
requirements for Chinese
visitors. He said currently
there were 100 million
Chinese outbound travellers
spending $140bn (R1,5trn)
at an average spend rate of
$1 500 (R15 979) per visit.
“If we commence next year
with a target of 0,5%, it will
translate into one million
visitors and $750m (R7,9bn)
in receipts.” See Zimbabwe
feature on page 12.