NETWORKING A WORTHY CAUSE FOR REGIONAL TOURISM

Regional tourism solely focusing on the southern region of Africa has impacted tourism as a whole. Each and every region be it South, North, East or West Africa has its own advantage when it comes to tourism operations. Tourism has reached a stage where it is managing to bring about peace and unity among countries as most regions have relaxed travel restrictions in the form of using Visas. RETOSA and UNWTO are good examples of recognized statutes that were established as a result of regional tourism. Thus, dear readers it is always wise to know more about your region especially its advantages over others.

TFCAs

Trans Frontier Conservation Areas are components or areas of a large ecological region that straddles the boundaries of two or more countries encompassing one or multiple protected resource areas. TFCA’s are all about preserving our precious biodiversity, that is, the management of plants and animals, so as to do away with extinction. This is one of the TFCAs goals as tourists want to see these species for generations. As protected areas TFCAs promote regional tourism thus countries come together and sign treaties that are in favor of the tourism resources in a bid to reduce poaching, which is a major setback especially when talking about the importance of ivory. Apart from promoting tourism, these parks uphold peace, thus they are even called “peace parks.” While Botswana and Namibia have the Okavango TFCA; Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa have the Great Limpopo Trans Frontier Conservation Park, which enables the movement of wildlife from one country to another without restraint. Literally speaking, the cycle of migration is now a well-known aspect in the Serengeti, as wildlife migrate from one place to another in search of water sources and greener pastures. For example buffalos are well known for doing that. TFCAs lead to the relaxation of stringent laws as tourists will enjoy game drives and bird or game watching from all different countries as the parks intertwine. The beauty of this initiative is that the TFCAs enables the employment of more guides who prevent veld fires and educate locals on the importance of wildlife.

The big five

Regional tourism brought about the issue of the big five. Every country in Africa is promoting conservation so as to preserve these animals. Accordingly, the initiative has tourists on their toes as they want to see this on their tour package. The big five include the lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo. In Zimbabwe we have gone a notch higher and produced some matchboxes with these animals on the cover thus making both this brand and the animals household names. Regional tourism plays a huge role in that the big five is found mainly in the Southern region of Africa for example South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana inter alia. Some countries only have the leopard and the elephant, thus the big five has brought about a competitive edge to tourism. It goes without saying that each and every region is a mystery for the tourists as they want to see the difference in wildlife patterns. More so, Africa as a region is making strides to protect both the white rhino and lion from extinction as these species are one of a kind. The big five is important as tourists from Europe, Asia and America as continents in their own right want to experience Africa at its best.

MICE

Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions are of great influence within the tourism sector. Needless to say that is why a lot of conferences and exhibitions are being held in different countries regionally. MICE as a trend brought about stronger tourism relations among countries because tour operators have joined in as they market destinations. A plethora of hotels are now designed so as to cater for meetings for they have conference and board rooms amongst others. Apart from the Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa (RETOSA) we have the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) which plans such events annually therefore its General Assembly meets every two years for regional commissions. In Zimbabwe we had the privilege in 2013 to host all tourism big wigs from all over the world for the UNWTO. It actually strengthened Zimbabwe’s tourism in the Southern region as it is not every country that gets to be chosen to host this highly esteemed conference. No man is an island thus MICE enables exhibitions whereby tourism operators within the region will expose their business and brands to the immediate industry. Good examples of these exhibitions include the Sanganai and Umoja Expos to mention just but a very few.

Heritage month

Heritage is a tradition that can be passed down from the preceding generations since it is something that can be inherited. Thus, September is heritage month for South Africa as a country but l can safely say most countries join this bandwagon as we have Zimbabweans, Tswanas, Sothos and tribes of Eswatini among others living in South Africa. In Zimbabwe, the whole Matebeleland province, that is, Bulawayo all the way to Plumtree is dedicated to Ndebele speaking Zimbabweans.

In a manner of speaking, heritage month promotes regional tourism and if it wasn’t for the Covid-19 travel restrictions last year tourists would have visited South Africa in hordes. However, we virtually celebrated this month with our sister country. Heritage month entails having concerts and exhibitions that show the diversity in the arts and culture of a country. Nothing beats knowing your origins and being proud to be an African for that is one aspect that can increase regional tourism. It can be deduced that heritage, as a part of cultural tourism, enables unity as we are one people who are only governed by border lines.

Destinations

Africa as a whole has a lot of interesting destinations with features that are not found in other regions. Victoria Falls is proudly Zimbabwean and is among the wonders of the world. There is no way you are going to talk about Zimbabwe without mentioning the “Mosi-oa Tunya” the smoke that thunders. Regional tourism for Zambia is booming due to the same falls as they can be seen on both sides using different angles. Travel agents have since amalgamated itineraries that involve Zimbabwe and Zambia as well as South Africa and Zimbabwe. Likewise, this has managed to raise our flags high as countries in the Southern region.

Allow me to say that when tourists come to South Africa they will definitely pass through Zimbabwe. The Table Mountain, as a destination, is found in South Africa as well as the Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his life trying to emancipate South Africa from the white apartheid regime. As a unique attraction the Robben Island will forever be a tourism stronghold because it is originally South African.

Dear readers stop anticipating and come to the Southern part of Africa which has the following appealing destinations. Malawi has political stability and excellent beach culture, Eswatini is rich in history and culture, Lesotho has the Malati Mountains plus they engage in pony trading whilst Mozambique is all about the deep seas, fishing plus the beautiful islands. I can guarantee you that you will not regret these excursions as you will live to tell the tale. At the same time, be an activist for sustainable tourism in your respective regions for the conservation and preservation of our tourism resources.