RETAIL SHOP operators at the recently-opened $30 million Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo International Airport have bemoaned low business, hardly a month after the facility was officially opened by President Robert Mugabe in honour of Father Zimbabwe.
GAMMA MUDARIKIRI OWN CORRESPONDENT
Mugabe unveiled the state-of-the-art airport on Unity Day amid pomp and ceremony.
There were expectations the facility would accommodate more travellers and as such boost business as retail shops selling food, clothing, travel agencies and telecommunication companies rushed to rent space in anticipation of brisk business from local and foreign travellers.
Investigations by Southern Eye Business showed that all the space allocated for retail shops was almost fully occupied, but operators complained of high rentals and low business.
“We had anticipated business to move fast with the opening of the airport and we rushed to rent for space, but at the moment business is low,” one of the operators who refused to be named said.
Customers said goods which sold at the airport were expensive while operators said the prices were high because of the rentals and the clientele they were targeting.
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“Our prices are high maybe because of our targeted clientele and they are also determined by the rental we are paying,” one of the shop owners said.
The new terminal had a capacity to handle an average of 6 000 aircraft movements per year and 10 planes at any given time.
