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| Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. |
According to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) 2014 tourism overview report, there were 1,600,496 tourist arrivals form African countries, 137,465 arrivals from Europe and 66,826 arrivals from America in the year under review.
The country also recorded 42,798 and 26,031 tourist arrivals from Asia and Oceania respectively.
"This growth is 0.7 percentage points below the sub-Saharan growth of 3.3 percent. There was growth in arrivals from all of the country's major source regions except the Asia. Zimbabwe still receives 85 percent of tourist arrivals from low value markets," reads the ZTA report.
In the period under review tourism receipts recorded a marginal 3 percent decline from US$856 million to US$827 million.
According to the reports, Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls constitute 64 percent of all the room and bed capacity in the country making them the major regions in accommodation.
The average room occupancy levels for Harare rose to 59 percent from 52 percent in 2013. In Bulawayo room occupancy fell to 44 percent from 52 percent while in Victoria Falls it also fell to 49 percent from 53 percent.
Bed occupancy levels in Harare also rose to 43 percent from 35 percent. Bulawayo declined in average bed occupancy levels to 32 percent from 34 percent while Victoria Falls declined to 40 percent in 2014 from 48 percent.
Overall, the national average hotel room occupancy levels remained inert at 48 percent while bed occupancy level fell by a percentage point from 37 percent to 36 percent in 2014.
Except in Victoria Falls, which had a foreign clientele of 73 percent, the domestic clientele drove the accommodation sector with 78 percent of hotel clientele being local. This was however, inhibited by slow economic growth.
ZTA said international tourist arrivals reached 1,138 billion in 2014, a 4.7 percent increase over the previous year.
"Overall demand was healthy with 51 million more tourists travelling the world. For 2015, United Nations World Tourism Organisations (UNWTO) forecasts international tourism to grow by 3 percent to 4 percent, further contributing to the global economic recovery. UNWTO estimates 75 percent -- about 853 million of all global arrivals -- to be intraregional travel.
"The strongest growth in 2014 was registered in The Americas. Asia and Pacific had the second fastest growth in international arrivals. Sub-Sahara Africa grew at a faster rate of 3.3 percent compared to North Africa's 0.5 percent," reads the report.
Projections in the tourism sector show that these numbers will continue to soar due to a number of factors including the launching of the Harare - Dar es Salaam route by Africa's low cost carrier, Fastjet in August last year.
“Fastjet has responded to requests from Zimbabweans and Tanzanians asking for a direct route connecting these two cities with affordable, reliable flights,” said Ed Winter, Chief Executive Officer of Fastjet was quoted. “Yesterday’s flight from Harare was fully booked, as is Saturday’s. With future bookings also looking strong we’ve decided to add a third rotation each Thursday which we expect to commence at the end of next month.”
Prior to Fastjet launching this route, those wishing to travel between Dar es Salaam and Harare had to spend at least two days travelling the approximately 2200km distance by road, or if travelling by air, via Nairobi in Kenya or Johannesburg in South Africa, often involving lengthy layovers.
“We believe the launch of this route will stimulate business and tourism in regions where citizens have had to depend on lengthy road transportation or have been excluded from air travel by the significant costs of flying an indirect route through Nairobi or Johannesburg,” Winter added.
“The Government of Zimbabwe is delighted that Fastjet is expanding its international route network to include Harare, and that in doing so it is bringing its low-cost, reliable and safe service to the people of Zimbabwe,” said Zimbabwe’s Minister of Transport, the Honourable Dr Obert Mpofu.
The publishing of the report is very timely as Zimbabwe prepares to mark its 35th independence anniversary where at least 24 regional and international organisations are expected to attend whose main celebrations will be held at the National Sports Stadium in Harare on April 18.
Briefing the media on the preparations for the celebrations recently, Local Government, Public Works and National Housing Minister Dr Ignatius Chombo urged people to come in large numbers.
“The preparations for the 35th Independence anniversary are proceeding well. The traditional children’s party will be held on the 17th of this month at the City Sports Centre in Harare and the main celebrations will be at the National Sports Stadium the following day,” Minister Chombo said.
“Members of the diplomatic community have been invited and at least 24 regional and international organisations have also indicated that they will attend this year’s celebrations.”
Some of the organisations include delegations from liberation movements drawn from the region.
Minister Chombo added popular Zim dancehall artiste Tocky Vibes will entertain children at the children’s party while gospel musician Amai Charamba, sungura artiste Alick Macheso and many others will perform at the main event at the National Sports Stadium.
“I urge all political parties, churches and other organisations in Harare to urge their followers to come in their numbers as there will be a lot for festivities. Transport has been organised and buses will pick up people from the usual pick-up points,” he added.
Minister Chombo added that this year’s celebrations will be held alongside other events at district level.
“Our provincial administrators are working flat out to make sure that the provincial celebrations are held with a lot of fanfare while this year’s celebrations will also be held at district centres and the majority of wards countrywide,” Minister Chombo said.
Zimbabwe attained independence from British colonial rule on April 18, 1980 to end over 100 years of occupation. The independence and democracy, however, did not come on a silver platter as over 50,000 lives were lost in a 14-year protracted armed struggle that forced the Ian Smith regime to the negotiating table at Lancaster House in Britain.
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