BY NOKUTHABA DLAMINI
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) will this month host the Victoria Falls Sports Tourism Experience to promote the country’s prime tourist destination.
ZTA said it had partnered with Sports Tourism Inc to organise the festival at a time the industry is plotting a path to recovery following travel disruptions caused by the outbreak of Covid-19.
Godfrey Koti, ZTA’s head corporate affairs, said the festival will be held between September 24 and 26 in the resort city.
Koti said the event will seek to promote sports tourism, market destination Zimbabwe and promote sustainable development for marginalised communities in the resort city.
“We were approached by Sports Tourism Inc to partner them in this initiative and we were immediately impressed,” he said.
“We saw an opportunity to market the destination using sport.
“The festival will help us propel the domestic tourism drive that is currently underway, the ZimBho campaign.”
Malvin Kanjere, public relations and marketing director of Ecotourism Africa and Sports Tourism Inc said the festival will help revive Zimbabwe’s tourism industry.
“Our aim with developing the sports tourism experience is to help revive domestic tourism, and support the continued collaborative efforts of the government and the private sector to spur on the recovery of tourism,” Kanjere said.
“We have been fortunate to collaborate with a diverse array of partners and sponsors to make this happen because we are all focused on the same goal; enhancing domestic tourism and supporting the recovery efforts”
Koti said the drive to push the sports tourism concept was being influenced by its success in other countries.
He said before the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, sports tourism was becoming one of the fastest growing sectors of the global travel industry.
“We believe that there is a massive opportunity for collaboration with sport to further reach critical masses,” Koti said.
“This will allow us to position Zimbabwe as a must visit destination for both local and international tourists.”
The sports tourism experience will incorporate sporting codes that include golf, tennis, mountain biking, marathon and aerobics.
Activities will be held at venues where regulations to prevent the spread of Covid-19.