Zimbabwe wants to grow its business travel market. The country plans to use its many beautiful places to attract visitors who come for work reasons. Business travel includes meetings, work rewards trips, big talks among experts, and trade shows. Around the world, this type of travel brings in $650-700 billion. Africa only gets about $13 billion of this money, less than two percent of the total amount.
Tourism boss Barbara Rwodzi discussed these plans on Friday. She pointed out how other African places became rich through business travel. "Look at Rwanda—they became who they are mostly because they push business tourism hard," she explained. Zimbabwe needs bigger buildings where many people can gather. The government already owns land near Victoria Falls through its company, Mosi-oa-Tunya. They started building a cricket field there but plan to add a huge meeting center nearby.
Rwodzi met with Masvingo leader Ezra Chadzamira about creating another big meeting place in that area. They discussed putting it near Tokwe Mukosi. The government also wants to build something similar in Manicaland Province. Right now, Zimbabwe only has the Harare International Conference Center, which can accommodate more than 10,000 people, plus the Parliament Building. The money people at Treasury must help pay for these new buildings.
The tourism department decided to move its big yearly tourism fair around the country. Called the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo, it will happen in different places each year. This time, Mutare will host the event. Tourism brings huge money to Zimbabwe these days, making up 15 percent of all wealth created in 2024. This beats traditional money-makers like digging for minerals or growing crops.
This success shows how strong tourism remains even during hard times. The government sees tourism as key to making Zimbabwe rich by 2030. Building places for business meetings helps create jobs, brings foreign money into the country, and lets visitors see Zimbabwe's beauty. When people come for work reasons, they spend money on hotels, food, and transport, and sometimes stay extra days just for fun. This helps many small businesses across the country make money.
Tourism boss Barbara Rwodzi discussed these plans on Friday. She pointed out how other African places became rich through business travel. "Look at Rwanda—they became who they are mostly because they push business tourism hard," she explained. Zimbabwe needs bigger buildings where many people can gather. The government already owns land near Victoria Falls through its company, Mosi-oa-Tunya. They started building a cricket field there but plan to add a huge meeting center nearby.
Rwodzi met with Masvingo leader Ezra Chadzamira about creating another big meeting place in that area. They discussed putting it near Tokwe Mukosi. The government also wants to build something similar in Manicaland Province. Right now, Zimbabwe only has the Harare International Conference Center, which can accommodate more than 10,000 people, plus the Parliament Building. The money people at Treasury must help pay for these new buildings.
The tourism department decided to move its big yearly tourism fair around the country. Called the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo, it will happen in different places each year. This time, Mutare will host the event. Tourism brings huge money to Zimbabwe these days, making up 15 percent of all wealth created in 2024. This beats traditional money-makers like digging for minerals or growing crops.
This success shows how strong tourism remains even during hard times. The government sees tourism as key to making Zimbabwe rich by 2030. Building places for business meetings helps create jobs, brings foreign money into the country, and lets visitors see Zimbabwe's beauty. When people come for work reasons, they spend money on hotels, food, and transport, and sometimes stay extra days just for fun. This helps many small businesses across the country make money.
