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Panashe Chikonyora
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) will exhibit at the 27th edition of the South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange (SATTE) this week to enhance destination awareness and foster market visibility.

As one of the fastest growing industries in the world, tourism has been considered as an interesting possibility for sustainable development including poverty reduction in many countries.

Hence there is a need for efforts by Government and players in the industry to boost its performance.

SATTE is one of the leading business to business platforms that bring together global travel and tourism players, focused on tourism trade exchange.

Its 27th edition will be held in New Delhi, India and will run from January 8 to 10 this year.

ZTA’s move follows after it participated at the Incentive Business Travel and Meetings (IBTM) World Exhibition last November with the intention to achieve the same purpose to usher confidence into the market and help end all negative perceptions about Zimbabwe.

The exhibition saw the country being promoted as a Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) destination.

ZTA believes in attracting MICE industry professionals to focus on commercial opportunities, thought provoking professional MICE capacity building sessions and networking that enhance Convention Bureaus’ business development strategies.

As part of ZTA’s focus this year, the move will help nurture and grow new and emerging tourism markets.

“There is need for us to mark our presence in the Indian market. We will have to be actively increasing our marketing activities there.

“To kick-start this process, we will be participating at the SATTE 2020. The fair will provide a platform for the country’s tourism industry players to establish new business partners and strengthen relations with key partners and stakeholders from the Indian market and beyond,” enthused ZTA acting chief executive Givemore Chidzidzi in a statement.

“As part of our plan to solidify our presence in this market, we will do follow up road-shows later in the year” he added.

India is one of the big five — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) family hence it has emerged as one of the fastest growing economies and dependable tourism markets globally.

Over the past few years, 2017 and 2018 the country’s tourist arrivals from India alone have been rising significantly from 6 960 to 12 465 to respectively, a 79 percent increase.

“As a country bestowed with rich cultural heritage, destination Zimbabwe is strengthening its tourism business and entering emerging markets. The potential is huge and our main thrust is to continue intensifying our marketing efforts in this market in particular,” Mr Chidzidzi added.

Zimbabwe recently upgraded India to Category B on its VISA regime, which means Indian travellers to Zimbabwe can apply online and obtain their visas at ports of entry.