Honourable Barbra Rwodzi, the Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry has said the country will use its participation at the 44th edition of the Feria Internacional Del Turismo (FITUR) which is the third world’s largest exhibition after the World Travel Market (WTM) London and the International Travel Bourse (ITB) in Germany to create synergies for tourism partnerships and opportunities.
The event brings together Ministers responsible for Tourism, Captains of the Tourism and Hospitality Industry, international buyers, and consumers from across the globe.
Hon Rwodzi was addressing journalists and the tourism sector today in Harare while appraising stakeholders about the country’s preparation for the 44th FITUR to be held in Madrid, Spain, from 24 to 28 January 2024.
The Ministry will be leading the Zimbabwean delegation comprising of Ministry and Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) officials, and a contingency of six tourism operators who will be exhibiting at the Zimbabwean stand. The companies are African Bush Camps, Amalinda Safari Collection, African Energy Group, Palm Hospitality Group, Rainbow Tourism Group, and Rhino Safari Camp.
“For this foreign mission, the Ministry will have the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with the UNWTO Secretary General, Mr. Z. Pololikashvili, and discuss areas of mutual interest between Zimbabwe and UNWTO.
“The Ministry will also use the same opportunity to meet with international organisations and media to project Zimbabwe as a destination of choice and abundant investment opportunities,” Hon Rwodzi said.
She said Zimbabwe is determined to invest in the Spanish market which has great potential to increase revenue from visitations to Zimbabwe. In line with this, Zimbabwe has appointed a Tourism Attache who is based in France to further destination presence and promotion within the Spanish and Portuguese markets.
The Minister revealed that every year there are Spanish agents that come to Zimbabwe for educational tours with the last one bringing 14 agents to Sanganai. Of note, one of Zimbabwe’s industry players, African Energy Group is a new kid on the block who was actually born out of Sanganai where a Spanish agent partnered with a local to form a travel company.
Hon Rwodzi added that in the post-pandemic period, arrivals from the Spanish market have demonstrated signs of recovery, registering a positive trajectory growth of 390 percent from 2,015 arrivals in 2021 to 9,870 arrivals in 2022. For the period January to September 2023, the country received 10 159 Spanish tourists compared to 7 937 tourists in 2022, demonstrating a 28 percent increase. This shows that the Spanish market has a lot of tourism potential which just needs to be tapped into.
During the pre- and post-pandemic period, Spain has remained among the top ten overseas leading source markets in terms of arrivals into Zimbabwe. Currently, the Spanish market contributes 7.5% of all arrivals from Europe and it’s the 5th largest contributor of arrivals from Europe after the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Benelux, and the Nordic and with great potential to contribute more tourists as access to the destination improves.