Retrench to remain afloat, ZTA told

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) should rationalise its staff and operations in view of reduced budgetary support from Government, a Cabinet Minister has said.

Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Engineer Walter Mzembi said the tourism promotion body needed to be self reliant in financing its activities.

"This board (ZTA) should be mindful that the Government is on an austerity program due to challenges posed by the economic environment. You may have heard about the decision by the Government to introduce a raft of cost-cutting measures which will include a reduction of the headcount in the civil service....ZTA is expected forthwith to be 'self-reliant financially from the 2 percent levy that we collect'. Any fiscal support from central Government ought to be by exception rather than the norm and will require absolutely strong justification," said Minister Mzembi.

"I expect robust discussions and can- did resolutions in this regard to ensure sustainability of the organisation going forward. I therefore direct the board to ensure the Authority rationalises its staff complement and adopt a lean, efficient and well motivated structure that operates on set targets and is poised to deliver.

"Painful as this process maybe; it has to be done and will be done."

Initial indications are that the rationalization exercise should have been concluded by July, 31 this year.

The ZTA is a corporate body responsible for tourism promotion, planning and development, research and the enforcement of standards and services.

Although it carries out a number of domestic and foreign tourism market- ing programmes, including the main annual domestic tourism fair - the Sanganai/Hlanganani Tourism Expo, observers say the authority has under- achieved in its efforts to get Zimbabwe back on the global tourism map.

Tourist arrivals into Zimbabwe during the first quarter of this year declined marginally by 0,3 percent to 387 557 from 388 732 during the same period last year, official statistics from the ZTA shows. Middle East and Oceania are the only gaining markets.

European arrivals into the country fell by 18 percent to 21 496. The fall was triggered by the decline in arrivals from all European source markets except Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Portugal which were the only markets to register increases.

Other source markets that registered declines include the Americas which was 21 percent down.