‘Bulk of $100m tourism fund for women, youths’

06 Sep, 2020 - 00:09 0 Views
‘Bulk of $100m tourism  fund for women, youths’ Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu

The Sunday Mail

President Mnangagwa recently launched an ambitious plan for tourism, which is meant to improve the allure of the sector and help it grow to a US$5 billion industry within the next five years. The plan is premised on improving investments and developing and diversifying the country’s product offering. This might be a daunting task considering that the sector has been the hardest hit by Covid-19. Our reporter EMMANUEL KAFE spoke to Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu on this and more. Below are excerpts of the interview.

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Q: What does the new tourism strategy (The National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy) entail? May you break it down for us?

A: The National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy was launched by His Excellency, the President, Cde E.D Mnangagwa, on August 6, 2020 following its approval by Cabinet.

This strategy was launched in the middle of the Covid-19-induced economic downturn, whose effects are being felt not only in Zimbabwe, but globally, and it therefore signals Government’s intention to first of all recover and then grow out of the current downturn. Government has set a target to achieve a US$5 billion tourism economy by the year 2025, anchored on the judicious use of its unique assets of nature, culture, heritage and built environment.

In this strategy, we have broken down this target to yearly performance targets in terms of capital investments, tourism arrivals and tourism receipts.

For example, the strategy assumes a 60 percent decline in arrivals resulting from Covid-19 and targets tourist arrivals of 920 000 in 2020, which should rise to 2,5 million by 2025.

In the same vein, the average hotel occupancy rate is expected to remain depressed at 8 percent in 2020 from 48 percent registered in 2019, but is expected to rise to 43 percent by 2025.

This is largely due to the expected slow recovery of regional and international tourism over the planning period.

Equally, investment in the sector is projected to rise from US$229 million in 2020 to US$600 million in 2025 against the backdrop of increased public sector investments and private sector initiatives, with the leading investment destinations being Tugwi Mukosi, Victoria Falls, Kanyemba, Matopos, Harare, Binga and Kariba.

The strategy seeks to provide increased funding to affected tourism businesses, including small businesses within the tourism value chain, through a tourism revolving fund ($100 million) which Government has established.

In addition, a $500 million Government guarantee facility has been put in place.

This initiative is part of the $18 billion stimulus package that Government has put in place under a co-ordinated financial arrangement to support the flow of credit to productive sectors of the economy post Covid-19.

This financial support will undoubtedly provide a soft landing for the tourism players as they reopen their enterprises to the market and help save and secure jobs from being lost in the tourism value chain.

The strategy emphasises the reality that domestic tourism will provide the initial building blocks for the revival of the sector. In a bid to support domestic tourism, the strategy has provided for Value Added Tax VAT) exemption on products offered to locals as part of measures to promote domestic travel, hence Statutory Instrument 193 of 2020.

The focus on domestic tourism will help preserve jobs and livelihoods in the wake of depressed global value chains.

Q: Tourism players seem to believe that Government’s marketing efforts are concentrated on Victoria Falls. Is the Government not doing other tourism destinations a disservice by concentrating development and marketing efforts on the resort town?

A: Indeed, Victoria Falls is our iconic tourism product as it is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, a World Heritage Site and one of the three most-visited falls globally after the Niagara Falls in the United States and Iguasu Falls jointly shared by Argentina and Brazil, respectively.

However, I must state that our focus for improved access and investment in tourism infrastructure is not restricted to this iconic town of Victoria Falls alone. We acknowledge the need to achieve growth with equity and to use the iconic Victoria Falls to attract tourists to the destination and at the same time promote the packaging of the same with other destinations in the country. Our blueprint identifies future growth nodes for tourism all over the country, such as Kariba, Binga, Matopos, Harare, Kanyemba, just to mention a few where there is comparative advantage to develop tourism.

We underscore the need for all provincial capitals to have tourism development plans that capture grassroots tourism developments in each province and region. The strategy seeks to pursue the development of local area development plans around numerous water bodies such as Osborne Dam, Manyuchi Dam, Gwayi Shangani Dam and many others outside Victoria Falls where potential for tourism development exists.

In pursuing the above, we are confident of the geographical spread of tourism development and benefits across the whole nation.

From a marketing perspective, ZTA is moving in to come up with specific provincial marketing plans that dovetail with and feed into the overall national destination marketing plan, and such plans have been rolled out in areas such as Kariba.

Finally, in the context of devolution, the Government is geared to ensure that tourism is a key component in every province.

Q: How does the new strategy feed into Government’s Vision 2030?

A: The strategy is guided by Vision 2030, proclaimed by His Excellency, the President, Cde E.D Mnangagwa, which seeks to achieve an upper middle-income economy by 2030. As he has aptly envisioned, this will be characterised by increased investment, decent jobs, a populace free from poverty and corruption. As a sector, we are, thus, alive to the fact that when Zimbabwe has attained middle-class status, our sector will be a huge beneficiary in many ways, as by deduction, locals will have more disposable incomes to enable local travel and investments.

On the other hand, it must be made clear that as one of the four pillars underpinning the growth of the Zimbabwean economy, alongside agriculture, mining and manufacturing, tourism has an important role to play in the attainment of this national vision. Undoubtedly, the implementation of this strategy will further enhance the contribution of the tourism sector to national economic growth and development.

Q: A number of young tourism graduates across the country have failed to get formal employment in the tourism industry. Does the strategy address this issue?

I must emphasise that the high growth target of this strategy, which seeks to achieve a US$5 billion tourism economy by the year 2025, challenges the sector to work hard to achieve increased domestic and international tourist arrivals, bed occupancy and increased tourist expenditures in the economy.

It further challenges our national entrepreneurial creativity and innovativeness to offer potential clients new products and services that will continuously give the country a competitive edge.

While in the past the sole focus could have been to build a graduate community geared only for employment in the formal sector, we are desirous to see graduates becoming key innovators and entrepreneurs in the sector.

There is a whole lot that the youths emerging from the universities and polytechnics can contribute in this regard.

I hope they will take advantage of funding windows I have mentioned above and those which Government has put in place for youth empowerment to participate in the sector.

However, as we open up new tourism growth nodes such as Kanyemba, Tugwi Mukosi, to mention only but a few, we are growing the tourism cake, and with this growth comes demand for skilled labour, which should fill in the demand for employment by the youth.

Q: We have launched the recovery strategy but we are still in lockdown as a country. How are local tourists expected to travel across the country as intercity travel is presently restricted?

A: Lockdown speaks to the current and you have seen gradual relaxation over the period. We are hopeful that, as the relaxation continues, we will ease back to normalcy.

But we must not throw caution to the wind and appreciate that the pandemic may be with us for some time.

We will continue to monitor the situation very closely, guided of course by our health experts.

Bear in mind that the strategy document covers a five-year period and it is our hope that from late 2021-2022 onwards we will be able to implement those parts of the strategy that are currently constrained by the pandemic.

Q: How is this recovery and growth strategy going to benefit youths and women?

As enunciated in this strategy, the tourism sector will undertake a robust investment drive, building on attracting both domestic and foreign investment into the sector.

This growth will drive a robust job creation initiative by the tourism sector and help support livelihoods. In doing so, this will uplift the standards of living of our people and assist the nation to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through poverty eradication and protection of the environment as part of a new sustainable development agenda.

The blueprint is inclusive and guarantees the participation of women and youths as key actors in achieving that growth.

We will work closely with them to ensure they have decent work spaces.

You will be pleased to note that of the $100 million set aside for the tourism fund, Cabinet was explicit that the bulk of it has to be channelled towards small to medium enterprises (SMEs) where the participation of women and the youth is prominent.

I have not shied away from telling people that if you were to go to Bulawayo, for example, 80 percent of the lodges there are owned by women and they are doing so profitably and are no pushovers as far as tourism investments are concerned.

Just recently, in Victoria Falls, His Excellency the President opened a luxurious boutique hotel, Mbano Manor Hotel, whose owner is a distinguished woman. We will, therefore, continue to work with them as we have done in the past to ensure they benefit from Government support initiatives such as duty-free rebates.

Q: The tourism sector is a key employer and one of the top foreign currency earners for the economy, but it has been heavily crippled by the outbreak of Covid-19 through travel restrictions. How are we going to deal with this as the virus is still with us?

A: I must acknowledge that most countries are still on lockdown, borders remain shut, while travel has been restricted.

The restrictions put in place to contain the pandemic have indeed brought the world to a virtual standstill. However, Government has agreed to gradually open up the economy and as it stands, restaurants, safari operators, hotels, lodges and national parks have been allowed to reopen. What remains closed are most tourism activities involved in leisure, and engagements to reopen these are ongoing.

My ministry, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Care, developed health and safety protocols which are being followed by the sector as it reopens. We are therefore ensuring that as we open up the tourism sector, there is strict adherence to laid down health and safety protocols developed in line with guiding principles stipulated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

Q: Most tourism entities do not have facilities and services that cater for tourists with disabilities. Does the new strategy also consider this?

A: The majority of the country’s tourist products were developed during a period when there was little consideration for customers with different forms of disability.

The issue of universal access to tourism has taken centre stage in international fora.

In this regard, I urge the service providers to adjust their offerings to cater for the needs of people with disabilities.

Equally, we also seek to guarantee this in the legislative review to address this issue. However, even the current statutory instruments partly address issues of universal access by demanding at least that each hotel offers rooms and toilet cubicles which guarantee universal access.

It must be noted that Zimbabwe is also party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and, therefore, has an obligation to domesticate these provisions.

Article 30 of the UNCRPD specifically obligates state parties to take measures to facilitate universal access to tourism products and participation in cultural life, recreation, leisure and sport.

We will, therefore, ensure that future legislative amendments in the sector further elaborate on and guarantee universal accessibility to all persons irrespective of their physical condition.

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