eBusiness Weekly
Ishemunyoro Chingwere
An upmarket lodge in the resort town of Victoria Falls, the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge, has given the country a much needed silver lining after being named among an illustrious list of 500 global properties by a leading United States of America magazine.
The honour comes at a time local tourism, as is the case across the globe, is currently reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic that has curtailed travel thus hampering tourism.
Zimbabwe, thanks to the majestic Victoria Falls, is a leading global tourist destination.
The recognition, T+L 500, is made up of honourees from eight demographics, which are grouped under Africa and the Middle East, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe, Central America and the United States among others.
In unveiling the list, the US magazine noted that as the travel industry confronts unprecedented challenges, resorts, hotels, and safari lodges around the world are rising to meet the moment, acting as beacons of resilience and hospitality for both guests and their local communities.
“The properties are incredibly varied,” said Travel + Leisure. There are safari lodges like andBeyond Ngorongoro Crater Lodge in Tanzania, luxurious coastal escapes like the Montage Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina, and high-rises like the Langham, New York.
“Some time-honoured favourites include Blackberry Farm, a gourmand paradise in the Great Smoky Mountains, and Eden Rock-St Barths, famed for its see-and-be-seen clientele,” said the American magazine.
The honour means the Victoria Falls Safari Lodge is named in the company of world leading tourists favourites like the famed Four Seasons hotels which saw 22 of its locations making the list.
The honour extended to Victoria Falls Safari Lodge is in sync with Government’s wish for the upgrading of tourism facilities to standards that can encourage tourism receipts.
The need to boost tourism receipts is at the core of the country’s National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy, which was launched by Government recently.
Under the strategy, Government envisages growing the sector to a US$5 billion industry by 2025, up from just over US$1 billion in 2018 and 2019.
It is also one of the specific sectoral strategies meant to feed into the broader economic strategy which is meant to grow the economy to upper middle income status by 2030.
