No Christmas cheers for hoteliers

Markets
HOTEL business during the festive season was lukewarm owing to a worsening liquidity crunch in the country, an industry official has said.

HOTEL business during the festive season was lukewarm owing to a worsening liquidity crunch in the country, an industry official has said.

GAMMA MUDARIKIRI OWN CORRESPONDENT

In an interview yesterday, Zimbabwe Council of Tourism vice-president Tich Hwingwiri said tourist arrivals in resort towns this festive season remained flat at an average 80% partly attributed to the financial squeeze in the market which limited spending.

Banks such as Allied Bank and Met Bank ran out of cash ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, dealing a major blow to domestic tourism.

The situation in the tourism sector appeared to have been worsened by the general harsh economic environment as the majority of Zimbabweans had limited disposable incomes due to staggered payment of most workers’ salaries, failure to pay salaries and bonuses.

Hwingwiri said the liquidity crunch in the country limited spending although players were optimistic of positive growth this year following a raft of measures proposed in the national budget to improve the sector.

“Despite the liquidity challenges we remain optimistic for better business this year with the government proposed continued rebate of duty on capital equipment imported by operators,” Hwingwiri said.

Presenting the budget last month Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa proposed the reintroduction of a rebate of duty on motor vehicles imported by safari operators for a period of a year starting from January 2014.

Hwingwiri said tourism players had initially projected that hotel occupancies would this year reach between 85% and 90% helped by foreign tourist arrivals after the country successfully hosted the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly in August.

The festive season starts on December 22 and this year most hotels recorded occupancy rates of around 50%. Most hotels reached the peak on Christmas Day in resort areas, recording occupancy rates of 80% on average.

Zimbabwe’s tourism sector, buoyed by the successful hosting of the UNWTO general assembly, is poised to earn the country $1,5 billion by 2015 and contribute close to 20% of gross domestic product boosted by the projected increase in tourist arrivals.