By Tendai Chisiri
Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Barbara Rwodzi revealed that all is set for the 17th edition of Sanganai/Hlanganani – World Tourism Expo to be hosted in Bulawayo in the capital Wednesday.
Speaking to the media during a media briefing she elaborated why the event is going to be held in Bulawayo for the sixth consecutive time. The event will be held at Zimbabwe International Trade Fair on 12 to 14 September with the official opening and award ceremony on 13th.
”We have been hosting this expo for the past 5 years in a bid to promote the tourism industry in Bulawayo especially the small operators whom we know are incapacitated to attend international travel shows, hence the initiative to bring buyers to their doorstep”, she revealed.
”We look forward to having a bigger expo this year with elaborate sustainable tourism initiatives and gastronomy tourism showcase. This is to ensure that the tourism value chain is represented at Sanganai 2024”, she added.
”The Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Innovation Science and Technology Development will be for the first time feature Tourism Innovation Hubs. This initiative is aimed at supporting youth in academia and exposing their ideas to the global community. One of the key beneficiaries of this noble initiative is the production of fresh organic juices from indigenous fruits”, Rwodzi said.
”Another exciting addition will be the MICE Masterclass aimed at capacitating all stakeholders on MICE tourism promotion. We are bringing MICE experts from across Africa to deliberate on pertinent issues regarding MICE tourism development and growth”.
” We look forward to Sanganai/Hlanganani – World Tourism Expo being the key tourism exhibition in Africa as we are inviting other regional countries to take part and pitch their investment opportunities and tourism product portfolios”, she expressed.
The media briefing was also attended by deputy minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Tongai Mnangagwa.
Exhibitor recruitment is already in progress and to date 410 companies have registered to participate at Sanganai/Hlanganani 2024 surpassing the target of 400.
So far, 8 countries have registered to participate at the expo and will be bringing operators from their countries, these are (South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Malawi, Tanzania, Embassy of Iran, Angola and Nigeria).
South Africa and Botswana have indicated that they will bring 10 operators each whilst Namibia will bring 6 operators
Two countries have already expressed that they won’t be exhibiting this year due to financial constraints and these are Rwanda and Mozambique.
Sanganai/Hlanganani-World Touriam Expo is an annual Tourism Trade Fair organized by the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. It showcases the widest variety of Africa’s best tourism products, and attracts international visitors and media from across the world.
Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo 2024 will host three conferences which are MICE Masterclass, Tourism Scholastic Conference and the Zimbabwe Investment Forum.
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