Monthly Archives: January 2018
Zimbabwe geared up for Spanish Tourism Fair
Zimbabwe attended the 2018th travel fair in Madrid, Spain an international circuit of tourism sector events, joining the global tourism players at the FITUR 2018 edition from 17 – 21 January.
The newly appointed Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister, Honourable Prisca Mupfumira will lead the Zimbabwe delegation marking the country’s 10th participation at the fair.
ZTA Chief Executive, Dr Karikoga Kaseke said participation at FITUR will help the Authority to push forward the tourism agenda to the Spanish market and to the rest of the world. He added that platform will also present an opportunity to engage various UNWTO Member States to rally behind Zimbabwe as the destination seeks to regain the lost market in tourism development. With dawn of a new era becoming for Zimbabwe, tourism in Zimbabwe is set for recovery but this is dependent more on the strategies Zimbabwe comes up with.
“We are going with the Minister and we hope the Minister will take the opportunity to answer to the questions that are normally being asked by major tourism players in the globe, what this new dispensation that we are having in Zimbabwe is all about and encourage the world to support this new development.” he cited.
Tourism operators said that it is critical for destination Zimbabwe to leverage on opportunities like FITUR given the positive developments brought about by the new dispensation. The era has since proffered intensive positive publicity with various markets displaying excitement and interest in “the new” Zimbabwe. The country’s participation at this year’s edition of FITUR is essential from a networking and business perspective while it also presents a perfect opportunity to explain the new dispensation to the global family of tourism.
FITUR is the leading trade fair in Spain and number three (3) in the world after Internationale Tourismus-Börse (ITB) Berlin and World Travel Mart (WTM) London. It is the place where the globe converges to map out the future of tourism in the world as the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) headquarters is based in Madrid, Spain. In 2017 FITUR attracted a record 9,893 exhibiting companies from 165 countries/ regions, more than 135,858 trade participants and 107,213 public visitations. Among the participation figures, of note was the increase of 18, 8% in international trade visitors compared to the previous staging. 7,452 journalists also attended the travel fair which is an international circuit of tourism sector events.
On the sidelines of FIRTUR, a Chinese Tourism Outbound Seminar, Tourism Investment and Business Forum for Africa and the (UNWTO) Awards for Innovation and Excellence will be hosted.
Currently, the Spanish market contributes 6,5% of all rivals from Europe and is the sixth largest contributor of arrivals from the bloc after the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, France, Benelux and Italy, contributing 36% above the previous year.
Zimbabwe tourism sector is an acknowledged economic pillar that has registered significant growth from being a mere $200 million economy in 2009 to an estimated billion dollar industry that is today. 2018 is a year where expectations for improved performance of the Tourism sector have indeed been heightened by the renewed confidence in destination Zimbabwe, ushered in by the new political dispensation under the leadership of His Excellency the President Cde E.D Mnagwagwa.
YeduLani (YOUR ZIMBABWE) magazine 