{"id":101042,"date":"2024-11-25T23:59:48","date_gmt":"2024-11-25T21:59:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi"},"modified":"2024-11-26T02:02:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-26T00:02:53","slug":"mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi","title":{"rendered":"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>TOURISM and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi says meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (Mice) were driving receipts and investments into tourism.<\/p>\n<p>This comes as the government believes the sector is now a US$5 billion-dollar industry under its National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, which seeks to achieve this economic valuation by next year.<\/p>\n<p>However, experts believe the industry is still far from achieving this valuation owing to declining investments, exchange rate volatility, high costs, an unfavourable national image, and pricy tourism packages.<\/p>\n<p>Investments into the tourism sector dropped by a huge 45% to US$172,2 million last year, from 2022, despite a 27% increase in tourism receipts to US$1,14 billion.<\/p>\n<p>In 2022, investments were US$312,5 million while tourism receipts were US$911 million.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTourism is a major contributor to the country\u2019s GDP (gross domestic product), and we are happy that we achieved our US$5 billion-dollar target,\u201d Rwodzi said, at the just-ended five-day Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe Leadership Summit, held in Masvingo last week.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was mostly achieved through receipts and investments, with Mice being the biggest contributor; this shows how much of a big and lucrative sector we are.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She, however, acknowledged the impact of the volatile currency and economy on the industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand the issues of devaluation, the taxes, the volatile economy. We are lobbying for the Zimbabwe Tourism Fund, which we believe will help the sector, especially operators, in terms of loans,\u201d Rwodzi added.<\/p>\n<p>Tourism Business Council of Zimbabwe (TBCZ) president Clive Chinwada called for a review of the utilisation of the 2% tourism levy, highlighting the potential for greater impact on the industry.<\/p>\n<p>The levy is charged on tourists visiting the country, collected by tourism players, and paid to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) which it mostly uses to fund its activities.<\/p>\n<p>Chinwada expressed concern over the current utilisation of the levy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are collecting money on behalf of ZTA, so because we are collecting, we are stakeholders ultimately. Now that we have collected, it should be utilised. The remit of how the 2% should be used ultimately is I think where the issue is, but we are collecting,\u201d Chinwanda said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, because we are collecting, we are stakeholders ultimately. And now that we should have collected, it should be utilised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He drew parallels with South Africa, where the 2% tourism levy is voluntary, yet, despite this, the Tourism Business Council of South Africa collects significantly more funds than TBCZ.<\/p>\n<p>This, according to the TBCZ president, is due to the effective utilisation of the levy.<\/p>\n<p>The president emphasised the need for a stronger TBCZ to effectively advocate for the tourism industry.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe gave ourselves a goal. And the goal is to adequately\u2014to have an adequately resourced and capacitated TBCZ. We should be able to champion the interests of the tourism business,\u201d Chinwanda added.<\/p>\n<p>According to ZTA, tourism receipts rose by 24% in the first half of the year to about US$493 million, from a comparative of US$398 million in 2023.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Zimbabwe. TOURISM and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi says meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (Mice) were driving receipts and investments into tourism. This comes as the government believes the sector is now a US$5 billion-dollar industry under its National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, which seeks to achieve this economic valuation by next [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":101041,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[19],"class_list":{"0":"post-101042","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-economy","9":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.1 (Yoast SEO v24.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"TOURISM and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi says meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (Mice) ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"TOURISM and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi says meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (Mice) ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-25T21:59:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-26T00:02:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/11\/sm_1732566724.925891.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"479\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi\",\"name\":\"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi - zimbabwe\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/11\/sm_1732566724.925891.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-25T21:59:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-26T00:02:53+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\"},\"description\":\"TOURISM and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi says meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (Mice) ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/11\/sm_1732566724.925891.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/11\/sm_1732566724.925891.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":479,\"caption\":\"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/\",\"name\":\"zimbabwe\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi - zimbabwe","description":"TOURISM and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi says meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (Mice) ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi","og_description":"TOURISM and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi says meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (Mice) ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi","og_site_name":"zimbabwe","article_published_time":"2024-11-25T21:59:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-11-26T00:02:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":479,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/11\/sm_1732566724.925891.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi","name":"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi - zimbabwe","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/11\/sm_1732566724.925891.jpg","datePublished":"2024-11-25T21:59:48+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-26T00:02:53+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4"},"description":"TOURISM and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi says meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions (Mice) ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/11\/sm_1732566724.925891.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2024\/11\/sm_1732566724.925891.jpg","width":720,"height":479,"caption":"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mice-driving-tourism-business-and-investments-rwodzi#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MICE driving tourism business and investments: Rwodzi"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/","name":"zimbabwe","description":"\u0623\u062e\u0628\u0627\u0631 \u064a\u0648\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0639\u0644\u0649 \u0645\u062f\u0627\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u0627\u0639\u0629","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/2e02b5816e71b1149d79877f669a85e4","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101049,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101042\/revisions\/101049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}