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Leroy Dzenga Herald Reporter
The spike in Covid-19 cases has slowed the return to normalcy in the tourism sector, with restaurants operating under the 8am to 3pm business hours and the curfew from 6pm to 6am.

Tourism started improving as the lockdown was eased, especially when restaurants were permitted to return to their pre-lockdown hours, but business slowed with measures introduced to combat the spike in local infections.

In an interview with The Herald, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority spokesperson Mr Godfrey Koti said businesses in the sector were performing well during the first month of reopening before the cases started to increase.

“Everyone was happy during the first month of operation, but now there is subdued business,” he said.

Mr Koti said as ZTA, they made arrangements with businesses that they try and keep their staff through the $500 million facility extended to the industry by Government.

“Our priority right now is compliance,” he said. “As an authority, we are keeping an eye on operations, we would like to ensure that expected protocols are followed to the letter. If operators adhere to regulations they can continue working even in these difficult times.”

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe president Mr Clive Chinwada said there was still work to be done.

“Volumes are still subdued,” he said. “We have experienced a further shrinking as a sector in the past two weeks because of the tightening of the restrictions on movement of people.”

Mr Chinwada said the industry was losing a lot of money, as resorts were still either closed or operating at very low occupancies due to restricted movement.

President Mnangagwa on Thursday launched a reopening roadmap for the sector’s return to operation in Victoria Falls.

Tourism is seen as a major component in policies for economic growth, being a labour-intensive industry, so generating new jobs quickly, and with the ability to earn significant foreign currency.