By Judith Kajuma
Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa H.E Mphaka Mbete has urged players in the tourism industry to aggressively promote Zimbabwe to increase tourists’ arrivals.
He said this during a Diplomats family fun day held recently at Bushman Rock Safaris in Harare organised by Ecotour which was marred by low attendance with one ambassador and families from three other embassies.
“There is need for more aggressive, assertive and well organised marketing, because we came to learn that not all the ambassadors were informed about this event. So, there needs to be better organisation and more aggressive and coordinated marketing promotion for an event like this. It is a very good initiative but if it is not well organised the attendance won’t be good, I think the attendance could have been better,” said Ambassador Mbete.
He also said Zimbabwe was a country full of potential in terms of tourism and that there is need for upgrading of the infrastructure so as to meet tourists’ standards.
“The advantage for Zimbabwe is its part of Southern Africa which has a variety of beautiful places to sell in terms of tourism. Zimbabwe has its own knish on a lot of historical heritage sites, so it’s a country that is very promising if you look at the Victoria Falls which has dramatically improved with the upgrading of the airport into an international airport. So, in short, there is a lot of potential for this country and the international communities are aware of that and they are waiting to come in bigger numbers.
“The most positive thing about Zimbabwe is about its people, they are warm, simple, open and friendly, and with the millions of diasporas abroad, I think they will bring more of that hospitality and openness mindedness and friendliness which they have experienced from abroad,” Ambassador Mbete said.
Speaking on the side lines Policy Research, Planning and Development Director in the Ministry of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Mr Douglas Runyowa applauded efforts made by Ecotour in playing its role in marketing the country’s tourist attractions.
“I would like to thank Ecotour for its efforts in helping us market our tourist destination, this is a good initiative and we encourage other stakeholders in the hospitality industry to come up with such initiatives to sell our brand. Besides Victoria Falls and other well known tourists’ attractions we have as a country, Harare has so much to show in terms of tourist attractions like Bushman Rock Safaris. These are good for the diplomatic community where they can spend a quiet weekend out with their families away from the busy life of Harare, as well recommending people from their respective countries and this will see more tourist arrivals,” he said.
Managing director of Bushaman Rock Safaris Mr Jono Passaportis said they were aiming at becoming the pride of Zimbabwe.
“It is fantastic to host an event like this, we really need to be proud of our Zimbabwean product, and we need to be aware that there is a big diplomatic core out there, hungry for things to do. We have got amazing things in our country which we should be proud to showcase to anyone and everyone, so we thank the ministry and Ecotour for this initiative,” said Mr Passaportis.
Mrs Tendai Moyo of Ecotour and also the organiser of the event said the initiative was to market Zimbabwe’s tourist destinations so that when the diplomats go back home, they will bring international tourists from their respective countries.
Recently Zimbabwe was announced as the third best destination in 2019 at the World Market Travel Expo (WMT) in London by Lonely Planet.
