VICTORIA FALLS, April 4 (The Source) – Major hotels in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe’s premier tourism resort, earned about $23.3 million from sales of nearly 178,000 rooms in 2013, as tourism showed signs of recovery and renewed British interest, an official has said.
The country’s profile, battered by years of a political and economic crisis, was boosted by hosting the 20th United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly, along with Zambia in August last year.
Ross Kennedy, a southern Africa director of the African Travel and Tourism Association said 2013 had been good for the eight hotels of Victoria Falls Hotel, Victoria Falls Safari Club, Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, A’Zambezi Hotel, Ilala Lodge, The Kingdom, Sprayview Cresta and Elephant Hills Hotel.
“2013 showed an increase in arrivals of nearly 12 percent over the 2012 calendar year; but equally, if not more importantly, revenues grew by 20 percent in the same period,” Kennedy said, who is also the chief executive, of Africa Albida Tourism.
Kennedy said in 2012, the hotels earned $19.261 million from 159,000 rooms sold, adding that there has been a ‘remarkable’ growth from the UK market to Zimbabwe in the last 15 months, with arrivals trebling since 2012.
“The first two months of 2014, have seen the United Kingdom market continue to grow and it is now approximately 10 percent of total arrivals in Victoria Falls. We aim to grow this further to at least 20 percent of our arrivals,” he said.
Zimbabwe received nearly two million tourists last year and that number is seen rising by 50 percent by 2017, according to a recent report by a United Kingdom-based independent financial advisory company.
Source: Vic Falls hotels income up 20pct on increased tourists (04/04/14)
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