Zimbabwe Tourism Sector eyes Middle East Market

Players in the Zimbabwe tourism sector are set to engage the Middle East market in Dubai from 5 to 6 March at the Business Connect Centre, a venue that is directly opposite the Zimbabwean Pavilion at the 2020 Dubai Expo Village.

Over 40 delegates drawn from over 25 tourism operators and enablers have confirmed their participation.

The Acting Chief Executive of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, Mr Givemore Chidzidzi said “This event marks the beginning of an exciting journey for the tourism sector as it signals the reopening of reengagements with our key source markets after the pandemic. The Middle East has remained a lucrative and untapped market for Zimbabwe. It is a market that has great potential and will bring high value to the different sectors of tourism”.

The past few years have seen Zimbabwe gaining access into this market as witnessed by the introduction of flights by two of the main airlines from the Middle East namely; Emirates and Qatar. Mr Chidzidzi went on to highlight that access is key in tourism development and growth hence the two airlines have changed the aviation landscape in Zimbabwe. He went on to say “As we position destination Zimbabwe for recovery after the ravaging impact of Covid-19 to our sector, we appreciate the confidence that the two airlines have bestowed on our destination. We are optimistic that our collective approach as a sector will soon yield the much-desired results and we will be able to still attain our USD5 Billion Tourism Economy by 2025”.

The participants for the event dubbed “Visit Zimbabwe – Tourism Conference and Exhibition” are drawn from the main stream tourism players and the aviation sector. The President of the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe, Mr Farai Chimba who will be part of the delegation said, “We appreciate the Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry for affording the sector this great opportunity to engage with the markets”. The Government of Zimbabwe has facilitated Zimbabwe’s presence at the 2020 Dubai Expo for the past five months and the tourism event comes as one of the highlights to all the efforts being made to reengage and reconnect with the global community, mainly the Middle East market during the notable global event.