Opening Zimbabwe up for business

• Published date: 05 September 2016
• Publication title: The Sunday Mail

Last Thursday, the Office of the President and Cabinet organised a stakeholders' workshop on the ease of doing business in the tourism and enabler sectors. Chief Secretary Dr Misheck Sibanda gave key indicators on the direction Government is taking to smooth Zimbabwe's business environment. We publish excerpts of Dr Sibanda's presentation.

It is indeed an honour for me to address key stakeholders who have gathered here for a crucial discourse on issues that are affecting the smooth growth of the tourism and enabling sectors in Zimbabwe with the main objective of employing the Ease of Doing Business reforms underpinned by the Rapid Results Approach (RRA), which Government has fully adopted as a mechanism to quickly improve business operations and the investment climate in Zimbabwe.

Tourism is one area that Zimbabwe's comparative advantages are nestled in and has the potential to promote sustainable development if its economic and social attributes are fully exploited and beneflciated.

Undoubtedly, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation clearly articulates and postulates tourism as one of the key anchors of spurring economic growth and empowerment of the people through creation of industries and employment, generation of foreign earnings and stimulation of domestic consumption.

The priority sector recognition of tourism is ably amplified by the signing of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Golden Book on Tourism by His Excellency, President RG Mugabe in May 2012, in Victoria Falls.

This gesture by our Head of State signifies the highest global commitment by governments the world over to the development of sustainable tourism.

It pitches high Government's support to tourism development as a vehicle for the empowerment of our people.

Additionally, tourism is one endowment that has a unique identity as it is engendered and derives its socio-economic meaning from the diverse environment, history, cultural norms and artifacts of a country, hence it can also be uniquely packaged and branded for a country's competitive advantages.

Zimbabwe in particular and Africa in general are immensely gifted with a balance sheet of tourism assets that comprise pristine flora, hospitable climate and wildlife; ready for leveraging to benefit Government, business and poor communities for posterity.

This, therefore, makes tourism one of Africa's low hanging fruits ready to be harvested, valued added and beneficiated for economic growth and sustainable development.

In view of this, Government, working in collaboration with the tourism sector, has set an ambitious goal to achieve a US$5 billion revenue target on the basis of five million arrivals and 15 percent contribution to GDP.

Currently, the...