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Obert Chifamba Manicaland Bureau Chief
MUTARE City Council will be exhibiting at this year’s Sanganai/Hlanganani business expo in Bulawayo with a view of selling the idea of night tourism to potential investors.

The expo will start on Thursday, ending on Sunday.

Mutare City public relations officer Mr Spren Mutiwi yesterday told The Herald in an interview that the city was angling to promote night tourism, hedging on the picturesque view of Mutare at night from the Christmas Pass.

“We are targeting to promote night tourism propped by the construction of a five-star hotel at the pass and the introduction of a cable cars for which we are seeking investors to partner with,” he said.

“A five-star hotel overlooking the city accompanied by a cable car train will afford tourists a better appreciation of the city’s beauty at night, which most towns other than Victoria Falls are failing to do.”

Mr Mutiwi said Mutare city officials wanted the project to be as competitive as that of Victoria Falls, which would allow the town, that he described as a sleeping tourism giant, to awaken.

“We realised that we can only compete with the likes of Victoria Falls if we have infrastructure that allowed us to host numbers of people in excess of 400 or 500 at one time, which is possible if we have five-star hotels whose lure would be further boosted by the cable car train,” he said.

Mr Mutiwi

“I think you will appreciate the fact that tourists do not visit places to sleep, but to spend, so by introducing such facilities we would be providing tourists with the platform to spend their money enjoying the night view of the city.”

Mr Mutiwi said Mutare would be exhibiting at the global business expo and sell their idea to potential investors who shared the same vision.

This project is also in line with the city’s plans to feed into President Mnangagwa’s economic policies that are business oriented and are poised to see the economy transforming into a middle class one by 2030.

“We plan to have more five-star hotels in Mutare to lure business and tourists who will later have the opportunity to visit and spend at the numerous attractions that are dotted all over the province,” said Mr Mutiwi.

“One such hotel will also be established in Fern Hill at the Gemology Centre and many other potential sites scattered in and around Mutare.”