THE Harare International Carnival will be a massive boost to efforts to grow the country’s tourism industry, organisers have said.
The carnival, set for September 1 to 10, was launched last week in the capital.
Speaking at the launch of the carnival, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Deputy Minister Anastancia Ndhlovu said the event is expected to stimulate tourism traffic.
Deputy Minister Ndhlovu said: “We are hopeful that this event will stimulate and generate domestic tourism traffic.
“It is my desire to see the growth and development of domestic tourism as this should be the mainstay of our tourism.
“I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the carnival has great potential to meet our expectations.
“But to realise this, I implore the tourism industry to create affordable packages for our people modelled around the carnival to enable visitors from outside the city to also attend this mega event.
“In the same vein, I want to take this opportunity to urge other corporates and stakeholders to come on board, to emulate the shining example shown by the Big Time Strategic Group in improving the image of our capital city.”
Since dollarisation, there has been concerted effort to revive the tourism sector.
In the last five years, new lodges have been built in Hwange, Matopos, Mana Pools and Kariba.
The Government has also chipped in in the revival of the tourism industry by investing in infrastructure and other initiatives such as incentivised tax systems and financial support through banks with external lines of credit for the tourism sector to specifically upgrade and spruce up the product that was not spared from the effects of illegal sanctions imposed by Britain and her allies.
The provision of duty rebates on upgrades to properties has also helped in the revamping of the product and has been hailed as a mutual and beneficial relationship between the private and public sectors in tourism.
Access to the country has also improved significantly after numerous airlines, including Emirates and KML, having resumed flights into the country.
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Parliamentary Conservation Caucus (ZPCC) met in Harare to discuss ways in which to protect biodiversity which is key to tourism.
Poaching, said Deputy Minister Ndhlovu, remains a major problem in the country.
“Poaching remains the biggest scar in the conscience of humanity and threatens tourism development considering that wildlife is the backbone of the tourism industry,” she said.
In 2013, over 100 elephants and other species were poisoned with cyanide at Hwange National Park.
However, Ndhlovu said Government is working towards combating poaching.
“The Government is seized with the matter and putting measures to ensure that we provide adequate protection for our wildlife with full support from international co-operating partners,” she said.
Rampant deforestation, on the other hand, has annihilated forests, a major component of scenic tourism and stakeholders have highlighted the need to develop and implement integrated community projects such as conservancies across the country.
While the tourism sector received not more than US$4 million in budgetary allocation for operations for both the Ministry and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), it is worthwhile to note that countries such as Tanzania set aside such amounts just for marketing.
ZPCC chairperson, Wonder Mashange said it was crucial to protect animals in order to ensure sustainable growth in the tourism sector, especially considering that Zimbabwe is one of the few countries in the world with pristine wildlife.
Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) representative Charles Jonga said the establishment of the ZPCC is necessary to highlight key challenges in the tourism sector.
Jonga said: “We welcome the advent of the Parliamentary caucus in the country although it is a new phenomenon for Africa.
“Without the political support, poaching as well as human and wildlife conflict will only grow.
“As CAMPFIRE, we are doing a lot of good work through communities to protect habitat, wildlife, biodiversity, poverty reduction and economic development.
“Parliamentarians can therefore communicate the right messages to unlock doors of support, financially based on the facts on the ground on Zimbabwe’s contribution to biodiversity conservation.
“It is a milestone in bridging the gap between the needs of the constituencies.”