Players in the hotel industry urged to charge fair...

Players in the hotel industry urged to charge fair rates

The Victoria Falls, a major tourist attraction, has been significant towards the growth of the sector

Zim Now Writer

Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has said players in the hospitality industry, which is one of the sectors that bore the brunt of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, must charge fair rates in order to remain competitive.

The Vice President said this while officially opening the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) annual congress in Victoria Falls yesterday.

Chiwenga said government had recently unearthed the speculative tendencies of players in the hospitality industry where some hotels were charging exorbitant rates to the government, using parallel market exchange rates in the name of hedging against inflation.

The practice, the Vice President said, inevitably contributed to inflationary pressures on the fiscus, resulting in economic instability.

“The government was left with no choice, but to tame the potential runaway inflation and crippling pressures on the local currency by putting in place measures that are aimed at price correction and upholding ethical procurement practices on the market. Let me urge you all to be good corporate citizens who adhere to good ethical conduct for us to achieve our developmental aspirations,” he said.

Chiwenga also noted that investments in the tourism industry, mostly in the accommodation sector, grew by 147 percent in 2021 to US$180.4 million. This development, he said, places the sector favourably to attract and host major international conferences.

He added that Zimbabwe won the bid to host the International Conference on Aids and STIs in Africa next year and in June the same year, the International Conference on Population and Development in Victoria Falls.

The Matabeleland North centre is a designated special economic zone and, the fact that it has been granted city status - acknowledging its national, and global, importance as the capital and hinge of Zimbabwe’s tourism industry – attributes that favour Victoria Falls.

The city has seen the construction of new hotels and new investments in the hospitality industry. In light of this, Chiwenga urged potential investors to take advantage of the special incentives that accrue from investing in the special economic zone as well as listing on the Victoria Falls Stock Exchange.

He urged investors to take advantage of the raft of measures and incentives that government, in consultation with players in the industry and other stakeholders came up with, such as the exemption on domestic tax and the setting up of a tourism revolving fund to facilitate the revival of the sector.

“I am pleased to note that through these interventions, the industry is already showing signs of revival with operators in the sector showing confidence in the future of tourism through investing in new projects,” Chiwenga said.