Zim imports 1,5m litres of wine

Nomvelo Siziba Bulawayo Bureau
ZIMBABWE has imported over 1,5 million litres of different kinds of wines from South Africa since the start of the year, as the country is fast growing into a new market for the beverages, an official has said. Wine tourism is fast emerging as a pull factor in many destinations and key tourism markets have identified food and wine as deciding factors in picking a holiday destination.

Tourism experts believe travellers select holiday destinations based on type and availability of wine as one of the deciding factors, as wine is one of the sophisticated beverages well sought after by tourists.

Tourism players and hoteliers in Zimbabwe have also embraced the new trend, and have in the past few years been participating in events organised by the Wines of South Africa (WoSA), an export marketing body wholly owned by the industry.

On Friday and Saturday, a wine-tasting festival was held at a Victoria Falls Hotel, where about 20 exhibitors showcased their different wine tastes.

WoSA marketing manager for Africa Mr Matome Mbatha said various trainings were lined up to capacitate different stakeholders with knowledge in wine industry.
“Zimbabwe is one of the strategic markets that we need to grow,” he said.

“When we made that decision to look into Zimbabwe, we were monitoring and seeing growth patterns.
“The figures are looking good as Zimbabwe is sitting at about 1,5 million litres from South Africa in comparison with countries like Kenya currently importing about 4,5 million litres.

“There has been a slight drop compared to 2018 where we exported about 1,8 million litres to Zimbabwe, but we are still to come to the end of the year to conclude and hope there will be changes.”
Mr Mbatha said there was value in trading as a region than exporting far afield.

Despite exporting to Zimbabwe, South Africa still exports a lot of wines to the European market as the Zimbabwean market is still at its infancy.

Mr Mbatha said there was need for more training of hoteliers to embrace wine tourism.
“Close to 200 people have been trained in wine handling around Zimbabwe, while WoSA conducts online training sessions to reach more people,” he said.

Victoria Falls Hotel acting general manager Mr Farai Chimba said wine tourism would help the region facilitate block marketing for the tourism sector.

“There are advantages anchored on South African wines when it comes to selling the destination,” he said.
“There are certain benefits in importing within Sadc, and if you import from far, there are limitations and barriers, hence it becomes expensive.”

Mr Chimba said reception for wines from the market was positive as Americans, who make up the biggest population of tourists into Sadc, prefer to experience South African wines.

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