Durban, South Africa
Zimbabwe tourism looks to consolidate the African market….. as Durban readies for Africa’s Travel Indaba
Zimbabwe’s Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Honourable Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndhlovu will lead the tourism industry at the upcoming Africa’s Travel Indaba tourism trade showcase which kicks off tomorrow and will run until Thursday in Durban, South Africa.
Zimbabwe is set to showcase it’s tourism product at Africa’s largest travel trade show. The exhibition, which comes hot off the heels of a successful outing for the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority in the Middle East, is aimed at promoting the Southern African region to the world.
It is set to showcase a wide variety of top drawer tourism products and attract international buyers and media from across the globe.
The exhibition is one of the largest tourism marketing events on the African calendar and is amongst the top tier tourism events on the global calendar.
This year’s edition will see Zimbabwe leading a strong contingent of more than 30 tourism operators, an increase from 24 that took part in last year, a position that has impressed the ZTA Chief Executive Officer, Ms Winnie Muchanyuka.
“We have seen a significant improvement from last year’s tourism sector performance, and we’ve received substantial amounts of business from the South African market. In view of this, we’re paying particular attention to that market. Our aim is to increase inflows from the region and particularly this market by at least 20% (SA contributed 292 thousand visitors into Zimbabwe last year). We are going to South Africa to consolidate and grow our regional market share. In the same vein, we’re honoured to have the Minister leading the delegation this year,” said Muchanyuka.
“The level of participation of the tourism players from Zimbabwe is quite impressive, and as ZTA, we’re grateful to the industry for supporting our strategic goal in promoting the destination. I am confident that Zimbabwe will make a lasting impression at this year show,” she added.
“We are delighted that ‘smaller’ players are now also seeing that marketing their products at these big travel shows has immense benefits to their businesses and can impact heavily on their growth trajectory,” she said.
Zimbabwe Helicopter tour operator MJ Air, Director Gerald Zumbika says he is looking forward to his company benefiting immensely from exhibiting at the ATI. “As MJ Air, we’re delighted and excited to be exhibiting with the ZTA at this year’s edition of ATI. We’re looking forward to creating meaningful and fruitful business connections in our quest to strengthen business generated from this market. This iff cause comes from a data informed perspective, which stipulates how big and important the South African market is to our destination. We’re happy that the Minister and his team at ZTA are leading from the front as they continue to facilitate participation for the destination at such huge platforms,” said Zumbika.
South Africa is the largest tourist source market for Zimbabwe, contributing 30% of total arrivals in 2022.
Africa’s Travel Indaba is an iconic African leisure trade show owned by South African Tourism, with the specific objective of creating market access for our vast array of African leisure tourism products.
Destination Zimbabwe is also looking forward to engaging with our fellow African exhibitors and learning from their best practices and innovations. The ZTA believes that by working together as a continent, tourism can only grow and contribute positively to socio-economic development.
