By Gideon Madzikatidze
MASVINGO – Zimbabwe is leading a continental call for African tourism to move from rivalry to regional integration, with Chief Executive Officers agreeing that seamless travel and product bundling are key to unlocking the continent’s full potential.
Speaking to journalists today at the CEO’s Roundtable held at Great Zimbabwe ahead of the Sanganai/Hlanganani/Dzimbahwe world tourism expo, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr. George Manyaya said the gathering was deliberate in that it sought to create an enabling environment where competing destinations become complementary circuits.
“From the presentations that we discussed today we have noted that we need each other. Yes we made the competition in terms of attractions, but… we are not competitors. We need to market Africa to the world,” Dr. Manyaya said.
Hosted at the iconic World Heritage Site (Great Zimbabwe), the roundtable brought together tourism authorities and stakeholders to align on intra-Africa travel facilitation, ease of doing tourism business, and joint destination marketing.
Manyaya emphasised that Africa’s strength lies in diversity, not duplication.
“For example, we increase the length of stay in Africa. The visitor tourists can arrive in Zimbabwe and also go to Botswana and also go to actually see other tourist attractions in Kenya, Zambia and in South Africa. Because we offer; and what we are offering might either be same or slightly and widely different; we should collaborate… One thing that’s very important is the authenticity and the authentic tourism product that we have in Africa. We must therefore collaborate so that we encourage our tourists to come,” Manyaya said.
Adding a regional voice, Davies Silungwe, Head of Human Resource and Administration at Zambia Tourism Agency, who was representing the ZTA CEO, echoed the need for unified action.
“What we are seeing here at Great Zimbabwe is proof that Africa is stronger together. Zambia, Zimbabwe and our neighbours share products but we don’t have to fight for the same tourist. We can create packages where a visitor lands in Lusaka, drives to Victoria Falls, crosses into Zimbabwe, and still has time for Hwange and Gonarezhou. That’s how we win,” Silungwe said.
He noted that collaboration must extend beyond marketing to include policy harmonisation on visas, airlift and border efficiency to reduce friction for travelers and investors.
The model proposed mirrors global best practice in multi-destination packaging and regional tourism circuits. Industry experts say it allows Africa to compete with long-haul destinations by selling ‘one continent, many experiences’ – wildlife in Botswana, heritage in Zimbabwe, beaches in Kenya and safaris in South Africa.
“We are grateful to the several countries that came to partake in the CEO’s round table where we were discussing areas of common interest,” Dr. Manyaya said, noting private sector and regulatory stakeholders were also engaged.
The initiative falls under the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry’s broader regional integration and marketing cluster and directly supports the Nature and Wildlife (Eco-Tourism), Heritage and Culture Clusters. Great Zimbabwe was used as a case study in leveraging authentic heritage assets to anchor longer visitor itineraries.
Industry players say a collaborative approach will boost RevPAR, length of stay and yield per tourist while spreading economic benefits across borders instead of siloing them.
As Africa seeks post-pandemic growth, the message from Masvingo was unified.
“We must collaborate. That is how we encourage our tourists to come,” Manyaya concluded.
“Africa is stronger together,” Silungwe added.
Some notable countries and stakeholders who have attended this event ahead of this year’s Sanganai/Hlanganani/Dzimbahwe world tourism expo include Zambia, Malawi, Cote De’vore and Namibia, among other various tourism stakeholders.