Zimbabwe\u2019s tourism industry has thrived on foreign visitors who would come to enjoy the unmatched Zimbabwean tourism offerings. Unfortunately COVID-19 happened, lockdowns have been implemented worldwide, and it\u2019s less likely that we will get foreign arrivals any time soon. The tourism sector has taken a knock, and there\u2019s only one way out; domestic tourism. This could be the beginning of a shift towards more local tourism than ever before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Locals are very keen to travel, very much willing, however they meet one challenge: the cost issue. Most of the feedback we\u2019ve received is that it is too expensive to travel in Zimbabwe, especially in comparison with our neighbouring countries which are competitive destinations like South Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a very valid argument. Before we go deeper into it, we first want to highlight that there truly are some affordable destinations in Zimbabwe, the unfortunate thing is that they are not known as much as the expensive ones. Probably it\u2019s because they are not well marketed and we will be doing our part throughout the year to assist them with visibility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going back to the issue of cost, people have given examples of hotels in Victoria Falls pricing over USD$70 per person per night for bread and breakfast. A couple spending two nights, would have to part with USD$280 on accommodation alone, this is before we factor in other costs like meals, and activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, a price list trended, and one local hotel was charging USD$11 for breakfast; a few slices of bread, an egg and a cup of tea. There was so much backlash against them, although it would not lead to any change in the prices. In fact, it\u2019s probably the realization that their outrage wouldn\u2019t change anything which made people turn the whole issue into humor, coming up with suggestions of what could be bought with that amount of money. It just pointed at some prices not making sense to the local market. 
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The Zimbabwe National Parks<\/a> charges around USD$5 for conservation fees for each individual entering into the parks, and another fee if you are using a vehicle, USD$5 for ordinary vehicles. This is already a $10 cost that\u2019s being built up to the travel cost. If you will be visiting a park like Nyanga National Park<\/a>, where it\u2019s definite that you can\u2019t exhaust all its main features in one day, then you would have to double the cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n