Tourism Correspondent
The 12thEdition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo to be officially opened today by the Acting Minister of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality, Kirsty Conventry took off to a good start in terms of attendance and stature, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority has said.
Coming on the back of two high profile funerals - one for former President Robert Gabriel Mugabe and the other for the late Major General Trust Mugoba, the expo went as scheduled.
ZTA Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Givemore Chidzidzi, said that despite the deaths, the expo drew the anticipated number of international buyers and media.
“We are delighted that the numbers which we projected and planned (for) have come to fruition. Sanganai/Hlanganani is here with the same number of international buyers and media as promised.
“A good number of people thought it would not go ahead since we lost two high profile people including the founding father of Zimbabwe and former President, Cde Mugabe,” Mr Chidzidzi said.
He also hailed the success of speed networking, an enabling platform whereby international buyers meet with sellers on a one-on-one basis.
Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe Chief Executive Officer, Mr Paul Matamisa, hailed ZTA for successfully hosting the tourism expo.
“There is a lot of input and effort from both the industry and the ZTA.In terms of décor and stand designs, we have seen an improvement,” said Mr Matamisa.
“Another encouraging thing is that we got a good number of buyers carefully selected by both the ZTA and the industry. All that is indicative of a good start of the expo and everyone is confident that they brought the best buyers to drive forward the industry,” he added.
Dubbed, Africa’s Premier Business Exchange, the three-day Sanganai/Hlanganai is being held at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre in Bulawayo until tomorrow.
One of the highlights so far was the Tourism Research Conference held on Wednesday where it was recommended to merge the Tourism Symposium held in Harare and the conference in Bulawayo.
It was noted that both events could promote tourism education and development if merged. TBCZ was tasked to coordinate the activities and provide topics for tourism research.
