SYDNEY MUBAIWA
MASVINGO-All hotels and lodges in the ancient city are fully booked including private accommodation as the annual tourism expo roars to life at Gymkhana arena.
With tourism month in full swing caped by the Sanganai/Hlanganani/Dzimbahwe Tourism Expo beginning tomorrow, the province is hosting back-to-back events in sport, food and entertainment that have pulled in crowds from across the country.
The sudden rise in visitors according to the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Barbara Rwodzi has left accommodation providers scrambling.
“We are already short on rooms from last night. If we don’t create the demand, visitors will think everything is fine,” she said.
She described the crunch as positive pressure.
“If visitors always find empty rooms, investors will see no reason to build. We need demand first,” she said. Several hotel owners, she noted, have started looking at renovations and new projects.
The surge ties into Government’s plan to rebrand Masvingo as both a tourism destination and a transit hub. The province sits at the crossroads of major highways and is home to Great Zimbabwe Monument.
To make the city more attractive to investors, the State has upgraded the Gymkhana area with tarred roads, water, power and tourism amenities such as a playing field, restaurant and offices.
“Developers go where infrastructure is ready,” she said.
Beyond traditional tourism, the Ministry is pushing new niches: sports tourism, religious gatherings, music events and indigenous cuisine.
“We are connecting sport to tourism, faith to tourism, entertainment to tourism,” the Minister said.
The Sports Tourism Carnival that featured colleges and the community will now be an annual September fixture to guarantee steady traffic.
Government is also shifting focus from just counting arrivals to tracking spending. Business travel under MICE was highlighted as a lucrative segment.
While the US tops arrival figures, Australians are currently the biggest spenders per visitor, according to Ministry data.
All of this aligns with NDS2, which lists tourism among sectors earmarked to drive growth, investment and jobs.
For Masvingo, the accommodation gap could translate into new hotels, lodges and restaurants, creating work and business for locals.
With the Expo set to put the province on the spotlight and annual events now locked in, Masvingo is being positioned as a key player in Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 tourism goals.
However, some players are taking advantage of the tourism extravaganza to double prices of accommodation and services.
A survey by The Midweek Watch revealed that a room is going for as much as $280 per night from $80, while a plate of sadza is now going for $10 from an average of $3.
“I have been looking for accommodation since Monday but the prices being charged are out of this world, a lodge is charging the lowest $280 while others have gone up from $20 per night to $140. I am shocked by the level of greediness by some people, there is nothing wrong in increasing prices to cater for high demand but at this rate we aren’t going anywhere, this is scary,” a lady who works for a media house based in Bulawayo who came for the Dzimbabwe World Tourism Expo.
