Farai Mabeza, Senior Staff Writer 
THE tourism sector says 70 percent of its employees have been vaccinated against Covid-19 as it bids to avert another travel shutdown in the wake of a third wave of infections.
The industry is concerned by rising Covid-19 cases which last week saw a rolling seven-day average of 627 infections a day.
“As an industry, we have prioritised prevention and the adoption of measures to ensure the safety of travellers so much that we believe that this rise in cases must not eventually lead to a shutting down of the economy, which will be detrimental to the economic prospects of the country and the industry in particular,” Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe president Clive Chinwada said.
“By way of example, our sector has seen its workforce vaccinated such that at least 70 percent of employees have taken the jab,” Chinwada told The Financial Gazette this week. This comes at a time the industry is welcoming news of the introduction of two major global airlines, Qatar Airways and Eurowings (a wholly owned subsidiary of the German Lufthansa Group).
Qatar is set to start flying into Harare in August while Eurowings will begin its Victoria Falls flights at the onset of the European summer holiday season next March.
“The increase in both the number of available seats, arrival and departure flights as well as the number of airlines coming into Zimbabwe will go a long way in improving not only access but the tourism competitiveness of destination Zimbabwe,” Chinwada said.
“Over and above the improved access, airlines also spend substantial amounts of money promoting the routes and destinations they fly to. As such, destination Zimbabwe will most certainly benefit from the marketing dollars spent by the two airlines”.
Eurowings will operate an Airbus A330 while Qatar will use a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, both which can take upwards of 300 passengers.
