Hospitality management company Rainbow Tourism Group (RTG) has lauded domestic tourism in Zimbabwe, saying the local market had kept its businesses going during the height of the pandemic.
Speaking during RTG's 23rd AGM in Harare, CEO Tendai Madziwanyika said in the absence of international tourism to Zimbabwe, the hospitality industry had to turn to wooing a domestic market as well as embracing technology and digitisation, which he said would continue to be a positive development in the long run.
Throughout 2021, the group recorded a 29% growth in occupancies (a 31% occupancy rate, up from 24% in 2020).
Meanwhile, Madziwanyika said when the pandemic was at its worst, a number of companies in the tourism and hospitality sector had retrenched their workforce, but RTG did not take that route.
Going forward, the group anticipates that rooms and conference business will continue to recover in city hotels.
Bulawayo-based Standard Hotel GM, John Goba, said: "The domestic tourism market has been critical in supporting local hotels, not only during the period when COVID-19 was at its peak, with countries imposing travel restrictions. Even now, when things appear to have eased in terms of travel restrictions, the hospitality sector is moving because of the bookings from local travellers."
Hospitality app gains traction
"RTG is beginning to realise the fruits of its digitisation innovation, like the Gateway Stream platform, which is set to drive the company to exponential growth in the future. The Gateway Stream is Zimbabwe's first ‘super app’ with 12 sub-apps across a wide range of products and services,” said Madziwanyika.
Owned by Rainbow Tourism Group, the platform was locally conceptualised, developed, and launched in 2018 as a one-stop online marketplace that offers a diverse range of products, services, and experiences.
"There is significant traction for the new revenue channels as evidenced by the four-fold growth in active subscribers on the platform, which grew to 66 000 in 2021, from 15 000 in 2020,” Madziwanyika explained.
The platform has since expanded from four hospitality-specific sub-applications to 12 sub-applications that include accommodation, holiday packages, food and drink, insurance, hardware, groceries, cab-hailing, deliveries, pharmacy, and even a music-streaming platform to support local artists directly.
Through strategic partnerships, he said RTG had listed over 60 000 accommodation rooms in 26 countries in Africa using the digital platform.
