By Judith Sibanda
VICE President Kembo Mohadi has urged tourism players to revise their pricing model in order to collaborate with government’s effort to revive the economy through domestic and foreign tourism.
VP Mohadi made the remarks Friday during an interface programme with the tourism industry players in Victoria Falls where he revealed government was planning to formulate a policy that would govern a pricing model for the sector.
“The country is going through a metamorphosis phase at the moment, the process is painful and a lot of instabilities prop up here and there as we are progressing towards a stronger and stable economic environment,” he said.
“Government has put in motion economic reforms that will put the right economic fundamentals however, there I would want to retaliate that pricing has to be done responsibly.
“…I am certain you have noted our commitment to better the operational environment of every tourism player. Therefore, I would like to call upon you all to be price sensitive and responsible when doing your packages.
“We certainly would not want our destination to continue being viewed as expensive; hence we must work together in building a brand that we will all be proud of.”
Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Prisca Mupfumira, in addition, said some tourists now preferred to book in Zambia and Botswana who pegged their activities at reasonable prices.
She said the upcoming 2019 Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) fares also needed to be revised with immediate effect.
Mohadi said to show their commitment in dealing with price issue, the government has reversed the proposed price increases by the National Parks that had been hiked from $7 to $21 to view the Zambezi rainforest.
On fuel shortages, he said the government was working on providing fuel across the nation and urged citizens “to desist from panic buying as well as hoarding and causing unpalatable conditions for everyone.”
He said the country pinned its hopes on immerse economic benefits that tourism and its promotion will bring to the nation.
Zimbabwe has received various accolades in the tourism sector as it was recently nominated 3rd best in travel 2019 by Lonely Planet, one of the most popular travel guides.
National Geographic Traveller also named Zimbabwe amongst the 19 must-see destinations in the world while the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association also picked Zimbabwe as a sustainable destination of the year.
