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Business Reporter

HOSPITALITY industry players expect significant higher occupancy levels for Victoria Falls Hotels during this year’s Easter holidays compared to the same period last year following relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions.

Last year, the occupancy levels for Victoria Hotels declined to 20 percent over the Easter period, but the tourism industry is looking forward to better times ahead this year driven by a favourable school calendar and eased lockdowns.

Traditionally, patronage for hotels during the Easter holidays is driven by local travellers and hotel occupancy is expected to be around 50 percent in Victoria Falls this year.

Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) Victoria Falls Chapter chair Arnold Musonza said in an interview that the decline in occupancies last year was due to school holidays not being in tandem with the Easter holidays.

The industry’s fortunes are forecast to change this year as school holidays would allow families to travel together and this has positively affected hotel occupancies.

“Parents are now able to travel with their children as mostly this is our family local holiday and hence it has positively affected the capability of most families to travel together and we have seen that also showing in the level of our occupancies lately,” Mr Musonza said.

With Covid-19 restrictions having been relaxed on account of the slump in new infections, hopes are high that the sector’s performance will be different this year.

“Obviously, with the reopening of the land borders, we also foresee quite a lot of self-drive traffic coming in, across the country. We can see that the occupancies are ranging within the 50 percent range compared to 20 percent during the same period the prior year.

“We hope that the occupancies continue to grow and we can actually be proud as destination Zimbabwe we are on the bucket list of most people,” he said.

The growth in foreign airlines, testimony to the success of President Mnangagwa’s international engagement and re-engagement drive, demonstrates increased interest in the country by investors and foreign visitors.

Last week, German airline, Eurowings Discover, flew its maiden flight from Frankfurt to Victoria Falls, becoming the first direct passenger flight between Zimbabwe and Europe since Air Zimbabwe discontinued its flights to London, the United Kingdom, in 2011.

The move is likely to boost tourism with Germans and other visitors from the rest of the European region now having access to direct connecting flights to the country.

Low cost carrier, fastjet Zimbabwe, in March this year also introduced a flight between the resort cities of Victoria Falls and Maun in Botswana.

Fastjet in March said it would continue to operate the route using a 50-seater Embraer ERJ145 aircraft, flying four times a week on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The company’s spokesperson, Nunurai Ndawana, said, “The airline is thrilled to introduce direct flights from Victoria Falls to Maun.

“Using our Embraer ERJ145 aircraft, we believe this route will facilitate more travel between these two tourism capitals of Zimbabwe and Botswana. This route has for many years been only available by private charter.

“So, with the introduction of this direct connection, we believe it will be able to spur tourism development and growth in the region”.

The travel and tourism sector contributed 4,1 percent to Zimbabwe’s Gross Domestic Product in 2020, translating to more than US$620 million.