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Manicaland to host Sanganayi-Hlanganani Expo 2025

by Editorial Team
written by Editorial Team

Government has announced its decision to rotate the hosting of the Sanganayi/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo among the country’s provinces to promote their unique tourist attractions starting with this year’s edition.

The Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Barbra Rwodzi revealed the news to the media and stakeholders this week during a tour of the Mutare Sports Club in Mutare, Manicaland Province, which has been selected to host this year’s edition of the event, which is slated for 10 to 12 September.

 “We did not randomly choose Manicaland, but we agreed that every year, we must have a destination that we speak loudly about so as to promote and market it. As a strategy, we want to go to different provinces every year. Victoria Falls is well known as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, but Victoria Falls is not Zimbabwe. This year, we are in Manicaland, and next year, we will be in Masvingo before moving to Mashonaland West. We want to promote local destinations.

“We need to promote Nyanga, Hot Springs and our mountains among other destinations. Mutare Sports Club will host the main events this year. Last year, tourism contributed 12 percent to the GDP overtaking agriculture due to the El Nino-induced drought and mining due to the fluctuation of the prices. Hence, tourism is important for the country,” the Minister quoted by the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.

The Manicaland Minister of State for Provincial Affairs and Devolution Advocate Misheck Mugadza expressed joy because of the development in view of the benefits which the province stands to derive from hosting the event. He said that the Province was ready to host the event and use it to market its numerous tourism attractions.

“This place (the Mutare Sports Club) should be able to accommodate the event. We were projecting the tourism sector in Manicaland to contribute seven percent to the provincial GDP, but with the province hosting this big event, we are now projecting it to contribute over ten percent to the provincial GDP,” Advocate Mugadza said.

For the past 17 years the event has been hosted at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair Company’s fairground, the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre (ZIEC), in Bulawayo.

Minister Rwodzi hinted at rotating the hosting of the event among the provinces in September last year in her address during the Tourism Investment Conference held in Bulawayo. Some tourism stakeholders in the city responded by suggesting that Government should let Bulawayo continue hosting the event while it creates opportunities for other cities and provinces. The Minister stressed that the decision was not calculated to deprive Bulawayo of the benefits that come with hosting the event, but to spread opportunities around the country.

The Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo is Zimbabwe’s premier event which is organised by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), and offers a platform for networking and business partnerships with international tourism players. The event is a successor of Shanyai/Vakatshani, the Zimbabwe International Travel Expo (ZITE), which was held annually at the Rainbow Towers Hotel and Conference Centre in Harare. ZITE started off as a small expo in 1982 and grew over the years to become one of Africa’s leading tourism showcases by 2007.

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Conferences/MeetingsExhibitionsOrganisers

ZITF Co launches AfriConfex event

by Editorial Team
written by Editorial Team

The ZITF Company has launched its new business event, the Africa Infrastructure and Built Environment Confex (AfriConfex). The event was announced to the market this week by the company’s chairman, Busisa Moyo in a statement.

The event, which is being organised in partnership with the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure Development, is set to be held on 20 and 21 October at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre in Bulawayo under the theme: “Solid foundation. Stronger future: Exploring linkages in the infrastructure value chain.”

“The private sector and the Zimbabwean government’s drive to improve the country’s infrastructure to sustain growth in the manufacturing sector and expand municipal utilities will continue to contribute to the growth in construction spending. Taking this into consideration, it became apparent to us that the industry and market are primed for a stand-alone event outside Mine Entra (where building and construction had previously been showcased).

“The inaugural AfriConfex will, therefore, provide a key platform for the sharing of local and regional experiences, technical knowledge exchange and a discussion of cross-cutting challenges, opportunities and learnings with a view of drawing up actionable resolutions to achieve industry and economic growth,” Moyo said.

Moyo indicated that the event’s theme rallies the industry and its stakeholders to engage in solution-oriented discourse and implement catalytic actions aimed at the success and growth of the sector.

“The two-day event, featuring exciting exhibition displays and a robust industry-driven conferencing programme will provide the platform for distinctive opportunities for business expansion, networking and learning. Additionally, as indigenous contractors gear up to venture into regional and international markets, AfriConfex will provide dynamic, hands-on moments to stay ahead of trends, opportunities, and risks such as technology trends, international labour markets, and new legal backgrounds and regulations,” said Moyo.

According to Moyo, AfriConfex is expected to grow into an annual, pan-African calendar event for the industry and explore various overarching themes including infrastructure development, planning and policy, financing of infrastructural projects, smart transport technologies, cities of the future (smart cities), new construction and architectural technology and solutions as well as safety planning and solutions.

Moyo highlighted that construction industry stakeholders such as the Zimbabwe Construction Industry Association (ZCIA), the Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association (ZBCA) and the Zimbabwe Building Contractors Association (ZBCA) among others have positively responded to the new event.

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Venues

ZTA calls for more MICE infrastructure investment in Bulawayo

by Editorial Team
written by Editorial Team

The national tourism promotion body, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has expressed the need for more investment in accommodation and conferencing facilities in Bulawayo to enhance the city’s attractiveness as meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) destination.

Speaking during the Tourism and Transport Infrastructure Finance Conference held in Dubai last week at the ongoing Expo Dubai 2020, ZTA executive director, Reason Machigere noted that Bulawayo lacked the capacity to host events with large numbers of people owing to the lack of the necessary infrastructure.

“Bulawayo hosts our annual trade event, the ZITF but come trade fair time, because of lack of capacity, we have to house some of our delegates in holiday homes. So, Bulawayo does require serious investment in terms of conferencing, luxury hotels and budget hotels,” Machigere said.

Machigere highlighted that Zimbabwe had a deficit in terms of tourism infrastructure with a combined capacity of about 6 000 rooms.

He indicated that most of the existing MICE infrastructure in the country was concentrated in Victoria Falls, Kariba and the Eastern Highlands.

“From an investment point of view, we have a wide range of facilities to invest in, ranging from luxury to budget hotels. Beyond Victoria Falls we have got other tourism hotspots such as Binga in Matabeleland North, Masvingo and Lake Kariba, the largest man-made water body in terms of reservoir capacity. These can be accessed by road or air transport,” Machigere noted.

Bulawayo is home to three major hotels, namely the Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel, the Holiday Inn and Cresta Churchill Arms. The three hotels have a combined accommodation capacity of 388 rooms and a total conference capacity of 1 060 delegates. The Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre (ZIEC), the ZITF venue also has conferencing and meeting facilities, which can seat up to 100 people. Apart from the hotels, Bulawayo has a number of smaller facilities and lodges which come in handy during the demand occasioned by the ZITF.  

The ZITF Company, the organisers of the ZITF and owners of ZIEC, has plans to use part of its 17-hectare property to build a 300-bed five-star hotel and a world-class conference centre.  

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