Bulawayo hotels, lodges fully booked

MAJOR hotels and lodges in Bulawayo are fully booked ahead of the Annual Zanu-PF National Peoples' Conference, which begins in Esigodini, Matabeleland South today.

The five-day event is seen as a major boost to domestic tourism and is expected to attract more than 5 000 delegates to Mzingwane High School.

Responding to written questions from this paper on Friday, the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (Haz) president, Mr Innocent Manyera, said because there was limited accommodation in Esigodini, hotels and lodges in Bulawayo were headed for a major boost in business during the conference's duration.

"Bulawayo will be on full capacity. This has generated activity in the province. This is a great idea as it is rotated in provinces.

"Generally after the 15th most regions will be below 50 percent with city hotels mostly affected. We are encouraging our members to offer discounts in order to promote domestic travel," he said.

Mr Manyera said players in the hospitality industry were faced with a challenge of multiple licences and bureaucracy in processing requisite licences. He also said the prevailing fuel challenges were adversely affecting Zimbabwe as a destination.

"Fuel shortages make destination Zimbabwe not favourable for both domestic and foreign travellers. We also face bottlenecks in training institutions due to lack of funding thereby making a service gap. We face challenges on retooling of most products due to lack of cheap money," he said.

In light of the challenges facing the hospitality industry, Mr Manyera said there was a need for several engagements with the Government to facilitate dialogue that would address the bottlenecks.

"We note positives like funding of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and national parks that has been accommodated. We are happy with an action-oriented Government to that effect," he said.