Business travel picks up in Zim
July 29, 2010 Edition 1
Most of the guests checking into hotels in Zimbabwe, apart from those in Victoria Falls, are South Africans on business, according to Frederick Kasese, the chief executive of the Regency Hotels and Leisure group, who was among delegates at a hotel investment conference yesterday.
He said tourists were beginning to "trickle back" into the country, but they still accounted for "only about 1 percent of guests and are mostly South African". He said business travel, mostly by South Africans connected with the mining industry, had already picked up.
Kasese said that rands and US dollars were now the only currency used in Zimbabwe. Hotel bills in rands were equivalent to those currently charged in Cape Town.
However, many experienced Zimbabwean hotel staff had left the country when times were difficult and were now working in South Africa, where they were sought after.
Most South Africans in the tourism industry are taking a cautious attitude towards investment in Zimbabwe at present. Tommy Edmond, the chief executive of Tourvest, told Business Report last month that although it had recently increased its investment in the Victoria Falls enclave by opening a luxury tented camp, it was not yet ready to invest in the rest of the country.
But Tourvest executive Gary Elmes said the company was already investigating possible future opportunities in Zimbabwe. - Audrey d'Angelo
