ZTA intensifies drive to grow MICE tourism

ZTA intensifies drive to grow MICE tourism
Published: 29 March 2018
THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, through its National Convention Bureau (NCB), has intensified its efforts to unlock more meetings and conferences for the destination by reinforcing its engagement of associations.

Associations are crucial in the Meetings, Incentive Travel, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) industry as they are the main source of meetings and conferences.

International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ranks countries according to the number of association meetings and conferences held at a destination.

In 2016, Zimbabwe was ranked number 12 in Africa by ICCA, while South Africa emerged as number one followed by Morocco, Rwanda, Egypt and Kenya.

"In order to improve our ranking in Africa and in the globe we need to bid and host more association meetings," ZTA chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said, adding that this necessitated the need to intensify local association engagements.

"Off course we will follow a systematic approach in doing so. We used to engage associations through one-on-one meetings and we have since felt that we can be more impactful if we host sectorial associations under one roof for a day of interactive exchange with our National Convention Bureau," he added.

The National Convention Bureau recently organised a workshop for the associations in the health sector in a bid to identify health association meetings and conferences that can be staged in Zimbabwe.

Tesa Chikaponya, executive director for the National Convention Bureau, said ZTA has identified over 21 potential conferences that can be hosted in Zimbabwe.

"We will engage those health associations that failed to attend the workshop before moving on to our next sectorial engagement, the agriculture sector," she said.

Due to the immense benefits derived from hosting meetings, conferences and exhibitions many developed countries such as Singapore, South Africa and United Kingdom have embraced MICE tourism as a tool to drive economic development of key specific sectors on their economies.

Zimbabwe will realise economic growth faster if every citizens take it upon themselves to attract events that have economic and social impact.
- newsday
Tags: ZTA,

Comments

Latest News

Latest Published Reports

Latest jobs