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Rumbidzayi Zinyuke
TOURISM industry players in Manicaland are confident of increased visitors to the region this festive season following the successful hosting of the second edition of the Eastern Highlands Expo. The expo was hosted by the Eastern Highlands Experience (EHE), a tourism marketing and promotional campaign, in Harare last week.

It sought to expose and market tourism products offered in Manicaland to different source markets. EHE chairman Mr Clive Chinwada said this year’s expo had seen the introduction of new products such as the skywalk at Mutarazi Falls, which would lure more visitors to the region.

“From a source market perspective, Harare supplies the bulk of our travellers into the province, so we went there to showcase the products we have in the region,” said Mr Chinwada.

“We are working flat out as EHE to enable visitors to realise that we have new products like skywalk at the Mutarazi Falls. It’s all about the destination and the destination is as good as the activities and attraction it has, so we want (to show) more of what we offer to the market,” he said. He said hoteliers in the Eastern Highlands were keen to grow the tourism industry to the same level as destinations such as Victoria Falls. This year’s edition of the expo saw 20 tourism industry players from Manicaland showcasing their hotels and packages they offer to target markets.

“Victoria Falls has done it before, they used to have what is called the “Go to Victoria Falls” campaign, whose thrust was to bring tourists to the Victoria Falls. This campaign is along the same lines,” added Mr Chinwada. Since the launch of the campaign in 2015, a lot of positives have been noted as the industry widened the range of activities and products on offer. More hoteliers in the region have also embraced the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) tourism to boost their desirability to the market.

Although the EHE campaign has seen an increase in visitors to the region since its inception, hoteliers said it was important to introduce air transportation. There have been numerous calls for Government to consider building an airport in Mutare to make the region more appealing to foreign tourists. Manicaland tourism currently thrives on domestic visitors because of its scenic views.