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Business Reporter

The tourism sector, hotels in particular, has been the most affected by travel restrictions as well as concerns over the need to maintain physical distancing.

Government lockdown measures have also seen the sector being classified under non-essential services, meaning they have remained closed and are likely to be the last to return to normal post the coronavirus pandemic.

However even before the pandemic, the industry was already not doing so well, according to Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe president Clive Chinwada said.

Average hotel occupancy were very low with national average occupancies at 41 percent as reported by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA Q3 2019 report).

“Trading in the hotels industry will be zero as facilities were all closed. There has not been any quarantine business to talk about in our market,” Chinwada said.

Hotel Group Rainbow Tourism Group Limited the closure of hotels will have a significant impact on the Group’s month of April 2020 revenues which traditionally accounts for 6 percent of the total annual revenues.

The Group is yet to quantify the total impact of Covid-19 pandemic on its operations.

Chinwada foresees that, even after lockdown restrictions are lifted, travel is unlikely to fully rebound until a vaccine is found.

“The next 18 months or so are going to be very challenging. There is a lot of work required throughout the travel industry value chain in terms of protocols to manage the spread of Covid-19 and bring back trust and confidence to travellers.

“This will is going to be a complex task and as a result, the revival of the tourism industry is going to take time,” reckons Chinwada.

If the lockdown is extended much longer, market watcher foresee a real bloodbath in the tourism industry with establishments closing, employees losing their jobs.

Leading hotelier African Sun has already cut salaries for most of its employees including executives and senior managers by 50 percent as the effects of COVID-19 take a toll on the business which operates 21 hotels in the country.

Listed fast-foods concern Simbisa Brands, despite being classified as a provider of essential services has already announced that it is cutting off contract workers, as well as putting employees on leave, among other cost-cutting measures to mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus.

The company said it was not generating enough revenue and there is a possibility that sales will drastically decline as businesses struggle to pay salaries which are supposed to feed into consumption.

Industry expert and Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) President Winnie Muchanyuka said they might be need to cut back post Covid-19 to be able to recover.

Speaking in an interview on UltimateTourism Chat hosted by Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) spokesperson Godfrey Chief Koti, said it is crucial to take this downtime to reflect and check systems and see “how we have been conducting business pre-Covid-19”.

“Business at this time need to look at what product and services are going to be critical to for companies to get back as quickly as possible and start operations again.”