The Sunday Mail
THE creation of strategic tourism partnerships between Zimbabwe and South Africa will help boost arrivals in both countries, a senior Durban Tourism official has said.
Durban Tourism head Mr Phillip Sithole said countries like Zimbabwe and others in the region had great potential to improve their overall tourism product through forging alliances.
Government plans to grow the sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from the current 10 percent to 15 percent by 2015. It is believed that tourism has the ability to generate more than US$5 billion annually by 2018.
In South Africa, tourism contributes R197 billion (about US$19 billion) to the national economy, with 73 percent of the revenue coming from regional tourists.
Durban alone is realising about R9,7 billion (about US$970 million) from the current 3,8 million tourist arrivals annually.
In an interview at the annual Top Gear Festival in Durban, Mr Sithole said South Africa was willing to create tourism synergies with Zimbabwe and other African countries in order to boost arrivals.
He noted the need to create regional laws that encourage regional travel.
“Our governments should make travelling within the region as simple as possible by crafting conducive laws. Visa requirements should be abolished. Strengthened trade partnerships will undoubtedly foster joint destination marketing, increase visitation while working with the travel industry will maximise the economic and social benefits of travel,” he said.
Tourist arrivals to Zimbabwe have been increasing gradually, registering an annual average growth of two percent in the last four years.
Renewed interest from traditional source markets such as the United Kingdom, United States and Germany has buoyed market activity.
Experts say every country in the region has unique tourism packages that make joint marketing initiatives important.
Destinations such as the Victoria Falls and events like the annual Durban Top Gear Festival are considered as a natural attraction for tourists.
Sithole added, “It would be of great gain if we combine forces when marketing our destinations. It is not a secret that we have different strengths in tourism. There is no reason why someone who visits Durban should not, on the same visit, fly to Victoria Falls or Zambia.
“The overall agenda is tourism promotion.
“We need flexible laws that help tour operators to easily transfer visitors among their countries.”
This year’s festival was held under the Durban Fun Season campaign that aims to create business synergies with South African hoteliers and tour operators.
Tourism minister Eng Walter Mzembi has reiterated Government’s commitment to develop tourism through a cocktail of measures such as promoting domestic tourism packages for low-income earners and instituting legislative reforms in order to align existing legislation to the new national tourism policy.
Zimbabwe is building on the successes of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) that has seen the creation of a seamless border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
