There is no doubt that the World Cup 2010 showcase in South Africa has opened up great opportunity for the tourism sector in the whole of Southern Africa. South Africa is already working hard to ensure the tournament will be a success. But what are the other countries in the SADC region doing to unsure they benefit from the tournament? A few days back Malawi’s Tourism Minister, Calista Chimombo was telling parliament that the Malawian government has embarked on a major drive to market the country as a destination for the people coming to the tournament. Whilst in Zimbabwe our leaders don’t seem to be doing anything to bring back tourists to the country.
As things stand today in Zimbabwe, who would want to visit Zimbabwe? It’s true the Zimbabwe security situation is not as bad like some people would want us to believe. In fact South Africa has a higher crime rate than Zimbabwe, but our economy is in crisis. It doesn’t give confidence for tourists to come to the country with all Zimbabwe’s well documented food shortages, record high levels of inflation and the shortage of cash in the banks.
The government need to put it’s house in order if Zimbabwe is to become a top tourist destination it was before. The future of the country is based on the outcome of the on-going power sharing talks between Zanu PF and the opposition MDC. Which raises another question, why is it that Zanu PF and MDC have failed to agree on the way forward all this time if both sides want the best for the country? Is it that politicians do not really care for the ordinary man in the street?
The players in the tourism sector also need to play their part in ensuring they deliver top quality services. This is a great opportunity to showcase the country to the tourists who will be coming to the World Cup in South Africa. There is no doubt those who are prepared will surely see a boom in business during and after the World Cup 2010.
When is the government going to start repairing the infrastructure they have left to be destroyed all this time? Is the government and companies in the tourism sector doing enough to take advantage of the World Cup 2010 to be held in South Africa?
Feel free to share your views by posting your comments.
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September 2nd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
I work for SA Tourism’s publishing house and we have been trying to include Zim advertisers in a global publication, but simply cannot get over the problems involved with for-ex payments from Zim – very sad indeed as there is a strong feeling of wanting to help, but financially we are being stymied… I’m holding my fingers crossed for you all…
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:31 am
This is one of the problems that the governemt need to address to help solve the economic crisis in Zimbabwe. If local businesses have no means of making international payments, how will they do business in an international market? A lot of business is lost because of payment issues.
Hopefully solutions will be found soon.
Thanks for your comments.