by NORMA TSOPO
TOURISTS, like vultures, are sensitive creatures. They circle promising spots but will veer away at the faintest sense of trouble.
For years, Zimbabwe has been a feast left untasted by many, its world-class wonders—the thunderous Victoria Falls, the ancient stone monument of Great Zimbabwe, the majestic Eastern Highlands, and teeming savanna safaris—overshadowed by political squabbling and economic strife.
That narrative has been changing lately and the trajectory need to be maintained and consolidated in the Second Republic with First Lady Dr Auxilia Mnangagwa as patron and with Barbra Rwodzi as Tourism Minister.
That assignment has now been placed on Dr George Manyaya with his appointment as chief executive of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA).
His selection is a statement of intent. The ZTA board has not chosen a traditional hospitality insider, but a communicator and a corporate fixer.
Manyaya’s career has been a masterclass in managing tricky narratives and stickier stakeholders.
He cut his teeth as a PR man for Mbada Diamonds, a firm operating in an industry where sparkle is often muddied by controversy.
There, he learned to polish a reputation, a skill he later applied to the monolithic state-owned telecom entities like NetOne and Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe, and ZESA, the perennially challenged power utility.
In these roles, his brief was to soothe relations with everyone from government ministers to furious consumers experiencing costly business disrupting blackouts.
This is the toolkit Zimbabwe’s tourism sector now hopes will continue to unlock its potential.
But this is not to say he is completely new to tourism as he was appointed Tourism Brand Ambassador and served on the Organising Committee of the 2013 UNWTO General Assembly, successfully co-hosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia.
He has the credentials and all the ingredients for making the country a top tourism destination is there. Arrival numbers have been on a steady climb too.
But there are still some lingering international perceptions of instability and challenges with domestic infrastructure like potholed roads and issues with power outages, all of which he has experience with at Mbada, ZINARA and ZESA.
Manyaya’s background suggests he understands that tourism is not just about pretty brochures or engaging promotional videos but about ecosystems.
His board experience at ZINARA, the roads agency gives him insight into the unglamorous underpinnings of a tourist economy. A stunning waterfall is less appealing if the journey there shreds your tyres.
Success will hinge on his ability to coordinate different parts of the state machinery and private players, including the media, to make the country appealing to tourists.
The new CEO’s role goes beyond selling dreams to visitors to ensuring that their experiences match the dreams ZTA sells.
Manyaya will need a narrative with continue to make Zimbabwe stand out in a crowded market. He needs to continue to leverage the country’s growing stability and the authenticity that comes from being, for now, slightly off the beaten track.
Skepticism is inevitable. Zimbabwe’s tourism recovery has been promised before, only to be offset by political squabbling which often go overboard around electoral periods.
Manyaya has at least two years before the mad season arrives in the form of the 2028 elections unless something changes. As it might.
A smooth-talking PR man can only do so much if the fundamentals remain shaky.
Yet, in choosing Manyaya, the authorities have at least recognised that selling a country is perhaps the ultimate exercise in stakeholder management. And in him, they have a master.
It requires aligning the interests of ministers, hoteliers, safari guides, conservationists, airport officials, and even miners.
If he can get these stakeholders to work in harmony, the tourists will descend to feast on Zimbabwe’s world-class tourism destinations.
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