Overview

Tourism is Zimbabwe’s third largest sector after mining and agriculture and has the potential to play a significant role in Zimbabwe’s economic recovery.  Zimbabwe has several national parks and natural attractions such as Hwange National Park, Mana Pools, Gonarezhou National Park, Victoria Falls, Lake Kariba, and the Great Zimbabwe National Monument. 

Statistics from the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) show that tourist arrivals to Zimbabwe rose by 174 percent in 2022 (from 380,820 tourists in 2021 to 1,043,781 in 2022), due to the recovery in overseas markets following the end of COVID-19 lockdowns.  Most visitors (66 percent) came from within Africa while 10 percent came from the Americas, 17 percent from Europe, and five percent from Asia. 

The GOZ estimates the tourism sector generated $911 million in 2022 compared to $397 million recorded in 2021.

Leading Sub-Sectors

In recent years, the government supported capital investment in the tourism sector by providing tax incentives and duty-free status on imports for certain categories of capital goods for hotels, restaurants, and safari operators.  Investment in the tourism sector grew by 120 percent from $142 million in 2021 to $313 million in 2022.  Wildlife photo and hunting tourism also offers enormous growth potential, but some wildlife conservancies had difficulty obtaining trophy hunting licenses from the government due to political maneuvering by individuals attempting to take ownership of the conservancies’ land under the guise of indigenization. U.S. law also prohibits the importation of elephant trophies into the United States.

Opportunities

Relatively low real estate prices in Victoria Falls offer opportunities in the construction of hotels and lodges.  The designation of Victoria Falls as a Tourism Special Economic Zone and International Financial Center could attract much needed investments.  The government lengthened the runway at the Victoria Falls airport to accommodate all varieties of jumbo jets and created a new passenger terminal.  However, local infrastructure (road, rail, water, telecoms, and energy) is outdated and in need of rehabilitation.

As the world moves towards sustainable tourism, there are opportunities to offer specialized training on this subject as well as direct investment in eco-travel and adventure travel businesses.  ZIDA also identifies opportunities in the construction of conference and convention centers, resorts and casinos, and shopping malls.  Many of Zimbabwe’s lodges cater to high-end, luxury tourists, but should the volume of visitors increase, opportunities to develop locations serving the middle-class market will grow.

Resources

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority

Tourism House

55 Samora Machel Ave, Zimbabwe

Tel: +263 779 212 289