Zim invited to Netherlands for tourism event

Published: 14 April 2014

Zimbabwe has been invited to the International Travel and Tourism Market (ITTM) to be held in the Netherlands this week, an official said on Friday.

In a statement Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Engineer Walter Mzembi said the invitation came at an opportune time for Zimbabwe to regain market share in the Dutch and most importantly European market which had been lost during the past decade.

"Dating to the '90s, Zimbabwe has never participated in any fair in the Netherlands and this provides the destination with the platform to reposition itself in this market, which is of primary significance to the growth of tourism in the country," he said.

The ITTM is a new Business to Business (B2B) and Business to Consumer (B2C) annual event for local and international companies engaged in travel and tourism.

With the theme "Buy and Sell Now", the ITTM 2014 offers travel and tourism businesses a platform for brand exposure, investment opportunity, trade exchange and cross-marketing.

Mzembi welcomed the invitation, saying it provided a platform for growth of the local tourism industry.

"Last year we received a total of 11 333 visitors from the Kingdom of Netherlands and Belgium. We need to re-gain the lost market share of 1999 where we received 39 491 visitors from the same market. After that we are projecting to grow that market to about 50 000 visitors by 2018," he said.

"Zimbabwe as a tourism and investment destination will take advantage of this international exhibition to establish new business relations with both media and tour wholesalers packaging the Southern Africa region. This new business strategic partnership with the trade in Netherlands and Europe will go a long way in increasing destination awareness and opening new emerging markets for our destination," he said.

The event will take place from Wednesday to Syunday this week at Malieveld in The Hague, and other African countries such as Malawi and Zambia will also attend it.

- New Ziana