Introduction
The geographical location of Bulawayo puts it at the center of Tourism in Matabeleland. Bulawayo on its own is a stunner and it offers tourists wonderful sites such as the mixture of old Victorian buildings with the new modern architecture. The National Art Gallery, the National Museum and City Hall are all in the vicinity of the City. The Zimbabwe International Trade Fair is located in Bulawayo and it brings scores of people from all parts of the world. Bulawayo is also near Matobo Hills, Khami Ruins, Victoria Falls, Hwange National Park making it a ready tourists attraction especially considering its connectivity linking up with those and other local and regional tourism destinations.
Hotel Accommodation
The major business attraction event in Bulawayo is the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair. During the ZITF, Sanganayi/Hlanganani Tourism Expo and Mine Entra among other periods accommodation challenges emerge mainly due to the increased number of visitors year in year and there has been a mismatch between supply and demand giving rise to the perennial problem of shortage of hotel and lodges accommodation. Currently Bulawayo has a total of 1 894 rooms (1 064 lodges/guest houses and B&Bs. Available hotels have on total 830 hotel rooms all totaling 2 769 beds. Of note is that currently Bulawayo does not have a Five Star hotel accommodation facility. The best facility available is Four Star hotel yet with the magnitude of the ZITF and the kind of tourists it attracts there is definitely need for Five Star facilities. It is projected that there is a need for 1000 more rooms. Therefore Bulawayo would need Five Star hotels with at least 300 rooms. There is real need for investors because the potential is very clear and it will offer any investor a good return.
Conferencing facilities & Tourism Market
Bulawayo will also need investors in the area of conferencing facilities which can be part of the proposed fire star hotels. This can be very attractive as it will be very convenient due to the regional and local connectivity mentioned earlier.
Generally, the tourism market in Bulawayo is not fully exploited. The other investment opportunities in the sector are integrated resorts, culture villages, golf estates, casino and amusement parks, and restaurants. Investment and growth in this sector will definitely ensure transformation in people’ lives. Bulawayo is definitely beneficial to the investor as it is already in existence and exhibits great potential and all that is required is a face lift and increased exposure.
Shuttle services & Sports Tourism
Bulawayo is surrounded by a number of tourist attractions within a 40-km radius of the metro. These include the Matobo Hills and National Park, Khami Historical Monument and Dam, National Museum, National Art Gallery, Railway Museum, Tshabalala Game Sanctuary, Chipangali Wildlife Orphanage, and so on. The transport links of the city, which include air, road and rail, enable convenient travel for tourists from any part of the country, region or the world.
Matopos is a special prominent attraction within the Bulawayo’s environs. It features Matopo National Park and Maleme Dam for boat cruising. It also has the famous ‘worldview’ where one can see for miles around and which also houses the grave Cecil John Rhodes who led the British colonisation of Zimbabwe in the 19th century. The founding Ndebele king’s remains, Mzilikazi, are also interred in these hills.
Beyond the 40km radius, Bulawayo has easy access to the Victoria Falls (about 400km), Hwange National Park (300km), Great Zimbabwe monument near Masvingo (250 km), Antelope Park outside Gweru (150 km), Dhlodhlo and Nalatale historic monuments (less than 150 km), and other tourist and historic attractions. Tours can be packaged in such a way that tourists can visit a number of these in one trip operating partly or wholly from Bulawayo.
There are also opportunities in sports tourism as illustrated by the two following examples from cricket and soccer. Zimbabwe has Test cricket status in the International Cricket Council (ICC) and Bulawayo offers the alternative venue for matches. To host such countries as India, England and Australia, there is need for five star hotels. These countries travel with hundreds of media personnel and thousands of fans for Test matches that are held over 5 days each.
Bulawayo also provides venues for international soccer matches for the 4 other southern provinces, Matabeleland North and South, Masvingo and Midlands. This is enabled by the availability of the international airport and the international regulations for matches to be held within a certain distance from the airport. Again, hotel beds are required and these have to be of an international standard.
