Zimbabwe/South Africa: Tourism Council Secures Personnel Training Funds
THE Zimbabwe Council for Tourism will spend US$3 million on equipping critical service personnel with essential customer service skills ahead of the 2010 soccer World Cup in South Africa in June.
ZCT, through the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, obtained US$1,5 million from a local non-governmental organisation, Zimhost, for the personnel training initiative.
The tourism sector representative body would chip in with an additional US$1,5 million towards the US$3 million personnel training programme.
ZCT president Emmanuel Fundira told Herald Business that the initiative would cover all critical customer service personnel from both the private and public sectors ahead of the football showpiece.
Mr Fundira said the training programme would involve key service personnel from such areas as the tourism sector, immigration, police, army and the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, among many others.
The aim, said the ZCT boss, was to change the customer service culture in the country for better to reap full benefits from the World Cup.
“We have secured funding from an NGO (Zimhost) for improvement of the customer service delivery system and we will train all stakeholders who are Zimbabwean nationals to improve customer service.
“We sought to partner Government in promoting tourism and this came through support from the NGO in which the parties will each contribute 50 percent to the total budget for the training programme.
“We initiated the idea to train people in customer service in various facets so that when we interface with visitors, there is a marked difference in the national
customer service delivery culture,” he said.
Zimhost was formed to foster the spirit of unconditional, collective hospitality in Zimbabwe by improving service standards nationally through training, and creating awareness of the importance of the individual’s role in their place of work, and as ambassadors of their community and of their country.
Founding sponsors were the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, Organisation Training & Development and African Sun Limited, Delta Corporation, Qantas Airways, Rainbow Tourism Group, United Touring Company, Meikles Africa, Barclays Bank, Abercrombie & Kent, Europcar Interrent and Cresta Hospitality.
Mr Fundira cited the usual chaotic manner in which immigration formalities were handled at Beitbridge as falling short of expectations.
He said there was a world of difference in the quality of customer service between hosts South Africa and Zimbabwe, the closest neighbour with the capacity to handle spillover tourists from the soccer showcase.
It was against this background that Mr Fundira said Government was overly excited about private sector efforts to assist in ensuring Zimbabwe was best prepared for the global soccer show.
ZCT had been worried that lack of financial resources to fund tourism promotion initiatives would make it difficult for the country to draw the full benefits of South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup.
This was after ZTA received a US$400 000 allocation from the National Budget, which the private sector considered negligible, to push the national tourism agenda.
ZTA had projected that the country could rake in more than US$500 million if adequate preparations were made to promote the local tourism industry ahead of the football extravaganza.
However, this appeared a difficult feat to achieve in the face of the financial resources available to fund preparatory requirements.
Source: All Africa.com (http://allafrica.com/stories/201001070717.html)
Holidays bring business boom for hotels
MOST hotels and tourist resorts in the country were filled up during the past Christmas and New Year holidays with some achieving 100 percent in bookings.
The latest statistics imply that the formation of the inclusive Government has inspired the return of confidence in key source markets and mostly the domestic market.
Figures released by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) indicated that bookings in the prime resort area of Victoria Falls were between 80 and 90 percent.
Apart from Victoria Falls, the survey also mentioned Nyanga, whose bookings were also looking good ranging from 60 to 70 percent, while Matopos and Masvingo were around 65 percent.
City hotels, however, recorded low occupancies of about 30 to 40 percent as most people were moving from the hustle and bustle of the city to holiday resorts.
The high turnout of bookings is, however, attributed to promotions that are being run by most hoteliers in a bid to encourage domestic tourism to make up for the gap left by international tourists.
The full year to December 2008 had seen the tourism industry suffering a 22 percent decline in arrivals; from 2,5 million in 2007 to 1,9 million.
Accommodation utilisation is, however, expected to rise, following the stabilisation of the economy and the demand resulting from the expected increases in tourist arrivals. Business delegations hunting investment opportunities in Zimbabwe, aid agencies and diplomats have been flying into the country at increased frequency since the signing of the Global Political Agreement, signifying the resurgence of hope.
“It is a clear sign that there is a recovery from last year,” Zimbabwe Tourism Authority chairman Mr Shingi Munyeza said, referring to the improved performance. “But next year will give a better signal. If you look at the statistics you will see that most of the tourists were business travellers, it’s tricky to compare because last year was an election year.”
Zimbabwe Council for Tourism (ZCT) president Mr Emmanuel Fundira attributed the positive growth to the introduction of multiple currencies, which has stimulated domestic tourism this year as it improved disposable incomes.
“The dollarised economy has brought stability to the sector, which now allows locals to travel to resort towns around the country.
“There is now flexibility on the spending power of the people,” he said.
He added that most hotels and lodges outside the capital were fully booked for the festive season, as many people wanted to spend the holidays away from where they lived.
“Bookings were made as early as November,” he said.
According to ZCT, domestic tourism is now operating at above 60 percent. Mr Fundira said increased domestic tourism would improve revenue collection for the sector.
Mr Fundira, however, noted that there has been a flip side to the promotions as some tourists have taken the promotional prices — which are lower than the normal prices — to mean that local hotels were now engaging in a two-tier pricing system.
He said contrary to this assumption, local hotels have rather adopted what is known internationally as the variable pricing system where prices vary depending on the time one books into a hotel.
Source: Sunday Mail Zimbabwe (http://www1.sundaymail.co.zw/inside.aspx?sectid=4392&cat=19)
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