Minister of Tourism and Hospitality, Priscah Mupfumira is leading the Zimbabwean delegation to South Africa for the Travel Indaba, which kicks off tomorrow ending on the 10th of May 2018.
The Travel Indaba, which Zimbabwe has been consistently participating since its inception 30 years ago will witness 32 tourism operators on the national stands according to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) in a press release.
“The exceptional response is a true reflection that Zimbabwe is open and ready for business,” ZTA states. “Various Zimbabwean Tourism operators have expressed optimism that travel into Zimbabwe will increase as the government reengages most of the markets who were shunning Zimbabwe for the past decade.”
“A number of Zimbabwe tour operators have also secured their own exhibition stands at Indaba which will enhance Zimbabwe participation.”
Chief Executive of ZTA who is happy with Zimbabwe’s companies participating in Africa’s largest tourism show said that he is happy that small operators now also seeing that marketing their products at these big travel shows will assist their businesses to grow.
“We have over the years lost substantial amounts of business from the South African market. We must take remedial action without further delay, we need to act swiftly,” Kaseke said.
“We are going to South Africa to regain the market share we lost. The level of participation of the tourism players from Zimbabwe is very encouraging and I know Zimbabwe is going to make a huge impact at the Africa’s Travel Indaba this year.”
South Africa is the largest tour source market for Zimbabwe contributing 30% of the total arrival in 2017.
The number of tourists arrival from South Africa had however declined from 1,368 million in 2010 to 716 234 last year.
“The decline of arrivals from South Africa which is the country’s major market is of great concern and calling for urgent attention. This has therefore seen the need for embarking on Visit Zimbabwe campaign in South Africa,” said Kaseke.
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