The Sunday Mail
The main centre of tourism in the entire Sadc region is not the Kruger National Park, because a visitor can go elsewhere to see wildlife; not the Chobe in Botswana; and not even Hwange and Gonarezhou put together, but the mighty Victoria Falls; yet the tourist attraction remains one of the poorest tourist towns in Africa.
If only the powers-that-be, particularly The Victoria Falls Town Council, could direct more energy towards marketing tourism products in the town, the fortunes of the whole country could be transformed.
The poor infrastructure puts Victoria Falls centuries behind Cape Town, yet one cannot compare the Table Mountains to The Smoke That Thunders.
Booming business and employment opportunities are plenty in Cape Town, the same should be experienced in Vic Falls.
Chinotimba residential area has some dilapidated houses that are now a danger to the inhabitants themselves, think of areas like Spandaward, Madhonkini and MaRailways. All these structures need to be renovated to spruce up the image of the town.
Victoria Falls must have state-of-the-art buildings and internationally recognised football stadia, tennis courts, cricket stadia, convention centres, swimming pools, the list is endless.
Victoria Falls can easily make millions per month from the above-mentioned facilities.
Imagine international tennis stars meeting in Victoria Falls for a two-week Victoria Falls Open or Victoria Falls Classic and then The Victoria Falls Summer Challenge?
How much can the town benefit from such events, just from the tennis calendar?
The town can borrow from South Africa, which has the Coca Cola Dome, which hosts several international exhibitions, live shows, trade fairs, etcetera. There is so much prime land that is being abused and or lying idle in Victoria Falls, without any prospects of being developed.
Such land can be offered to international commercial partners to put up or upgrade facilities in the town. There are companies that will never say no to an such opportunities. International and local companies will jump at the opportunity to partner the council in implementing such initiatives.
Victoria Falls should have been the centre of innovative digital advertising, but alas, even Chinotimba stadium knows no digital bill board. Whereas if partners had been engaged to upgrade the stadium, it would have brought in a lot of revenue.
At the moment, helicopters are privately owned, the owners are making a lot of profit. A helicopter ride costs about $165 per person per 15 minutes. In a day, about $30 000 is grossed from one helicopter and in 30 days, it is about a million dollars.
And there are only two privately-owned companies doing helicopter flights over Victoria Falls, a serious monopoly that is not benefiting the rest in the mainstream.
Victoria Falls Town Council can challenge for, and legitimately get a licence for helicopter flights. Imagine if the council was to get a million dollars per month from just a single helicopter.
Will that not be enough to pay salaries and cover other tourist-attracting activities in the resort town?
Inviting international celebrities to the town would boost tourism as they will become marketing ambassadors wherever they go. Looking East is good, but we should also not forget about the West. We can only do so at our own peril.
The Council needs to think outside the box.
These efforts will create employment for our youths and upgrade the status of Victoria Falls.
Victoria Falls has the potential to develop itself, its town officials cannot continue to sit and wait for help to come from the central government.
We are not discussing miracles here but practical solutions to our problems.
This vibrant Sunday Debate column is open to readers and you can send your contributions to [email protected]
Tinosi Bhebhe has 16 years experience in the tourism sector, with most of the years spent working in Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. He is the managing director of Mopani Lodges in Victoria Falls.
