Minister appoints new Board Chairman for Zimbabwe Tourism Authority

Zimbabwe’s Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Honourable Nqobizitha Ndhlovu has appointed Ray Mawerera as the substantive Board Chairman of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).

“I wish to also announce the appointment of Mr. Ray Mawerera as the substantive Chair of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Board,” said Minister Ndhlovu.

“The incoming Board Chairperson is vastly experienced in marketing and business leadership which should prove handy in taking the ZTA forward,” he added.

“In doing so I also take a moment to thank the outgoing Board Chairperson, Mrs. Precious Sibiya for her guidance of the Authority during the past few months. I wish to also advise that Dr. Sibiya now assumes the post of Vice chairperson of the ZTA board,” said Honourable Ndhlovu.

“Mr. Mawerera, your appointment comes at a time when the tourism sector is going through unprecedented challenges. The sector, like many other, has been hard hit by the COVID-19 Pandemic,” the Minister added.

The Minister continued, “It is common knowledge that travel and tourism have almost come to a halt due to the COVID-19 induced travel and other restrictions. That notwithstanding, there are high expectations that the sector should rebound and make a meaningful contribution to national economic recovery.”

“In this regard I expect you are to urgently finalise the recruitment of a substantive Chief Executive. The process had commenced and I wish to commend the Board under the able leadership of Dr. Sibiya for the progress made so far in that respect,” the Minister added.

“You also join the Authority at a time when implementation of the National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy is high on the agenda. I therefore wish to underscore the importance of the new Board Chairperson to ensure that the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority takes up its rightful position and plays a critical role in the marketing of the country,” he added.

“Your appointment comes at a time when the country has a huge opportunity to participate in the Dubai 2020 Expo. This global expo comes at a time when the country has not had many platforms to market the country and we need to grab this opportunity with both hands,” he said.

The Minister also added, “I therefore expect a robust marketing campaign run by the ZTA to be put in place and finalised as soon as possible. Going forward, we need to upscale our destination awareness efforts and ensure improved visibility of destination Zimbabwe. As the world begins to open up, we need to position brand Zimbabwe as visibly as possible to benefit from the tourism traffic that will emerge post the pandemic. In doing so, there will be need to amplify our partnerships with the private sector as we cannot do without them in our efforts to promote the country.”