By Caroline Washaya-Moyo
MASVINGO – Zimbabwe’s efforts to diversify its tourism offering are beginning to create new opportunities and expose areas requiring further investment, with growing demand for accommodation emerging as one of the major issues in Masvingo as the province hosts Tourism Month activities.
The ancient city is this week at the centre of a series of tourism-related events, including sports, entertainment and gastronomy activities, ahead of the Sanganai/Hlanganani/Dzimbahwe Tourism Expo.
As visitors continue to arrive in Masvingo, accommodation facilities have begun to experience increasing pressure, a development Government views as an opportunity to stimulate further investment in the province’s tourism infrastructure.
Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Hon Barbara Rwodzi, said the growing demand was already being felt, with accommodation facilities beginning to run short of rooms.
“Right now, starting from last night, we are running short of accommodation,” she said.
While a shortage of accommodation may present challenges for visitors, the Minister said creating demand was necessary to encourage investment in new facilities and the expansion of existing ones.
“If we don’t create the demand, they will think everything is fine,” she said, noting that some hotel owners were already considering refurbishing their establishments.
The growing demand comes as Government intensifies efforts to position Masvingo as a tourism and transit hub, taking advantage of the province’s strategic location and its potential to attract both domestic and international visitors.
To support this vision, Government has invested in infrastructure at the Gymkhana area, where roads, water and electricity have been provided. The area has also been developed to accommodate tourism-related facilities, including a sports pitch, restaurant and tourism offices.
Hon Rwodzi said such infrastructure development was important in attracting private investment, as investors were more likely to develop areas where basic infrastructure was already in place.
The strategy is also linked to the broader diversification of Zimbabwe’s tourism sector, with Government increasingly exploring opportunities in sports, entertainment, gastronomy and religious tourism.
“There is a lot of work that we need to do in putting together sports and tourism, putting together religious congregations and tourism, putting together entertainment and tourism,” she said.
The Sports Tourism Carnival, which formed part of activities leading to the Sanganai/Hlanganani/Dzimbahwe Tourism Expo, attracted Higher and Tertiary Education institutions and members of the public.
Although Hon Rwodzi acknowledged that sports tourism was still developing and had not yet generated the level of spending Government expects, she said the September Sports Tourism Carnival would become a permanent annual event in Masvingo.
The idea, she said, is to create sustained demand that will eventually encourage investment in tourism infrastructure and businesses.
Zimbabwe’s tourism strategy is increasingly moving beyond simply attracting visitors, with greater emphasis now being placed on how much tourists spend and the economic opportunities created by their presence.
Hon Rwodzi said Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions, commonly known as MICE tourism, was among the high-spending segments of the tourism sector.
She said the sector attracts business travellers who generally have greater spending power, making tourist expenditure as important as visitor numbers.
The Minister said Government was also analysing source markets to better understand tourist spending patterns, noting that while the United States remained one of Zimbabwe’s leading markets in terms of arrivals, Australian visitors had emerged among the highest spenders.
The developments in Masvingo also speak directly to the objectives of the National Development Strategy 2, NDS2, which places tourism among the sectors expected to contribute to economic transformation, investment and sustainable growth.
By creating new tourism products and experiences, while improving infrastructure and stimulating private sector investment, the activities being introduced in Masvingo have the potential to increase tourism receipts and create wider economic opportunities.
The growing demand for accommodation could also encourage the establishment and expansion of hotels, lodges, restaurants and other tourism-related businesses, creating opportunities for employment and local communities.
For Masvingo, the challenge of limited accommodation could therefore become an opportunity, provided investment keeps pace with the growing number of tourism activities and visitors.
With Government planning to make events such as the Sports Tourism Carnival permanent, Masvingo’s tourism sector could increasingly become a driver of infrastructure development, business growth and economic opportunities, contributing towards the broader goals of NDS2 and Zimbabwe’s economic development agenda.
The Sanganai/Hlanganani/Dzimbahwe Tourism Expo is expected to further place the province in the spotlight, while providing Masvingo with an opportunity to showcase its potential as part of Zimbabwe’s broader tourism growth strategy.
