The Sunday Mail
Online Editor
It is back to business for Kariba as Government has okayed the resumption of boat operations which had been put on hold since March as the country was under lockdown to contain the novel coronavirus.
In a post-Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, the Minister of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Honourable Monica Mutsvangwa said Cabinet had approved the resumption of boat cruises on Lake Kariba.
The resumption of the cruises is part of a raft of measures the Government has taken to resuscitate the tourism industry, which has been hit hard by the national and global lockdowns.
As Zimbabwean tourism gets back to normal, domestic air travel is also set to resume.
Said Minister Mutsvangwa, “Government is finalising on modalities for the re-opening of airports to support the resumption of the tourism sector. The plan is to start with the resumption of domestic flights and then move to international flights. Cabinet approved the resumption of the rest of tourism operations including boat operations.”
Prior to the announcement by Government of the resumption of boat operation, operators in Kariba felt they were being given a raw deal as the lake had long been opened as a recreational park but boat cruises not allowed.
Launching the National Tourism Recovery Plan in Victoria Falls early August, President Emmerson Mnangagwa officially re-opened the Victoria Falls National Park, which also marked the re-opening of all national parks across the country.
However, Lake Kariba found itself in an unenviable position of being open yet boat cruises were not allowed on it.
Houseboats fall under the public transport category and their regulation is with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructural Development. Since public transport is not yet permitted, houseboat owners and operators were of the opinion that they should not be classified the same as mass transporting systems like buses.
Washington Ncube, of Sunset Safaris, welcomed Government’s decision to resume boat operations saying the tourism industry had been in limbo for months and it was getting hard to continue paying salaries, maintaining and servicing boats yet they were not operating.
“Our colleagues across the lake in Zambia have been operating for some time now and we were getting worried about the state of our tourism. But we are happy that we have been given the green light to operate.”
