(Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, 27th Sept 2025)
Conservation
campaign group, Keep Victoria Falls Wild, has announced it is considering
launching a call for an international tourism boycott of the Zimbabwean side of
the Victoria Falls in response to increasing tourism development pressures
which continue to threaten the future viability of the UNESCO World Heritage
Site (WHS) which it shares with its northern neighbour,
In a social media post on their Facebook page, posted to coincide with World Tourism Day, 27th September 2025, the group highlighted the controversial Baines Restaurant development, located a short distance above the Falls and constructed within the WHS 'Highly Ecologically Sensitive Zone' (HSEZ) which prevents all new tourism development.
"A legal
challenge against the development, launched in mid-2022 when construction first
started at the site, has still yet to be heard by the courts, resulting in a
second legal case, raised at the beginning of this year in an attempt to
conclude this matter. Despite all the evidence, and negative publicity, the
restaurant still remains open, with the owners of the operation, Scanner
Investments (trading as
In response to the US$2 million libel claim Keep Victoria Falls Wild published a special report which categorically showed the development is, and always has been, located within the UNESCO WHS HESZ (KVFW, June 2025).
The National Park Management Plan map is also definitive in showing the location as within the WHS HESZ (Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, 2024).
Questioning why, therefore, the restaurant remains open, the statement continued with a call for the tourism sector itself to stand up against illegitimate developments, or face the consequences of further negative publicity as well as a de-valued tourism product as new developments degrade and fragment the local environment of the Falls.
"The development
is a stain on
The riverside 'tree lodge' development was initially described as a '24 bed semi-permanent tented tree lodge' when first disclosed to the public in 2020. The proposal has subsequently grown into a 57-room 5-star luxury lodge, to be developed by House of Chinhara Hospitality Ltd and managed under InterContinental Hotel Group's exclusive Six Senses brand.
The list of recent tourism developments within this section of the Victoria Falls National Park and WHS HESZ also includes the 'Rock Pool,' a riverside bar developed and managed by the Park Authority, and the launch of tours to Cataract Island by Zambezi Crescent, operators of the Victoria Falls River Lodge, with the recent development of a jetty site a short distance upstream of the Falls to facilitate tours.
In addition Victoria Falls City Council have announced the development of the upstream Victoria Falls Resort, sale of Stand 1815 for a tourism hotel development (on the north-western edge of the Elephant Hills Golf Course) and initiated the development of yet another area of virgin bush on the south-eastern side of the Golf Course and Zambezi Drive/Big Tree area, no doubt again for a tourism development, all located on the boundaries of the WHS and within the surrounding 500m 'Buffer Zone' which is supposed to limit development. These latter areas were also identified as being 'restricted permanently' from all new development, with the exception of infrastructure essential to its management, under the 1975 town development plan (known as the Outline Plan).
Despite
all these ongoing and planned developments, Zimbabwean Authorities chose not to
disclose any new developments to UNESCO in the recent 2024 State of
The Victoria Falls was designated as a World Heritage Site in December 1989, following the joint submission of the site by Zambia and Zimbabwe, known as the ‘State Parties,’ to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for consideration on the exclusive global list. The World Heritage List is managed under the World Heritage Convention (1972), of which both countries are signatories. As parties to the convention, the two countries are pledged to keep the Victoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya World Heritage Site (VFWHS) ‘intact for future generations.’
A
call for an international tourism boycott of the Zimbabwean side of the Falls,
even if targeted against certain operations and operators, could have
significant impacts on the country's tourism industry which relies heavily on
international visitors to the Falls.
Read more on the Keep Victoria Falls Wild website.
Further Information
Keep Victoria Falls Wild (June 2025) Special Report on the Riverine Fringe. (download)
State Parties (2024) State of Conservation Report. Victoria Falls/Mosi-oa-Tunya World Heritage Site.
Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (2024) Zambezi/Victoria Falls National Park General Management Plan (2024-2034). April 2024.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (2025) Tourism Trends and Statistics 2024.
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