01/07/09, 23:05:35 UTC

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Zimbabwe: Use Travel Expo to Market Zim

allafrica.com

Tourism can do a lot for Zimbabwe, creating wealth and, because it is notoriously a labour intensive industry, create a vast number of reasonable jobs.

The bad press that Zimbabwe suffers in many traditional markets is a problem that is being overcome. People are influenced far more by what their friends, their neighbours and their travel agents say than by what they read in newspapers or see on television.

It is taking time to spread the truth, but it is spreading. The Travel Expo opening this week has brought in, and is bringing in more, some very senior travel agents, people who manage large businesses and want to see for themselves. They will see, because they will make it their business to see so they can advise their clients, both the good and bad in present-day Zimbabwe.

But generally we expect them to be reasonably impressed. They will find the country peaceful, almost free of violent crime, bustling economically and eager to welcome tourists. They will see some empty shelves in many supermarkets but will also find very few shortages in hotels and restaurants.

So Zimbabwe should, simply by letting people see everything for themselves and not trying to hide the less desirable, be able to negate much of the bad publicity. But there is another side to selling the country as a first-class tourist destination.

We cannot tell our potential customers what they want. Most of Africa has joined the hunt for tourist dollars and an American, European, Chinese or Japanese tourist has a very wide choice. So we in Zimbabwe have to offer a little more. And one way is, at the Travel Expo, to listen very very carefully to what our potential customers want and be ready to create special packages to fill these specific demands.

One advantage of the Expo, not often stressed, is that it brings together most of the decision makers within the Zimbabwean industry, not an easy task considering how spread out they must normally be. This means that the decision makers must, of course, be at the expo themselves. When someone wants to know if a special requirement can be met, or a special package created, they will want to have an answer quickly, not wait for days while "head office is consulted".

Zimbabwe has to be able to cope with the niche markets, as well as mass markets, and it is probable that the niche markets will be the most important considering that the country is more expensive to reach than say East Africa for most potential tourists. Niche marketing will require a high level of co-operation between competing businesses, so exactly the right package can be created.

But co-operation is not a zero-sum game for the Zimbabwean tourism industry.

The more tourists who come the more everyone will benefit so it makes sense to sell the country as a whole, not just a single business's share of the industry.

Travel Expo presents many opportunities to Zimbabwe and to its tourism industry.

We must seize these opportunities and continue creating Africa's greatest tourism destination.

 Printable Version  | published Oct 09, 2007