THE tourism industry has welcomed government’s recent decision to lift the restrictions on inter-city travel, amid expectations to move will promote domestic tourism and kickstart the recovery of the battered industry.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Givemore Chidzidzi described the lifting of inter-city restrictions as a major boost to the sector and is upbeat the move will promote domestic tourism.
“As ZTA we are very grateful to the principles for allowing the tourism industry to operate under these lockdown conditions. The opening up of inter-city travel is obviously going to give a boost to the tourism industry as it battles to recovery from the effects of the pandemic. In terms of the tourism recovery and growth strategy we have always said that for our tourism industry industry to recover it is going to take a couple of steps and it will start with domestic tourism,” said Chidzidzi.
Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) Representative, Barbara Murasiranwa expressed optimism in the recovery of the sector and appealed to the responsible authorities for cautious reopening of the borders to boost regional tourist arrivals.
“We are also saying that if the borders could also be opened cautiously like how the country is opening up for tourism purposes so that we can also tap into regional tourism. We also have to look at other areas like restaurants. You will appreciate that tourism restaurants are not built for takeaway purpose. If those ones can also be opened up maybe up to 50% of their sitting capacity,” she said.
The current COVID-19 vaccination programme and the positive endorsement of the destination have provided hope for the recovery of the sector which was hard hit by the global pandemic.
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