Tourism is one of the pivotal industries to the Zimbabwean economy. This is because it brings in much-needed foreign currency. It also plays a role in painting a positive picture of how Zimbabwe is like. This goes a long way in even attracting foreign direct investment. Due to the pandemic, tourism became one of the hardest-hit industries. It is only now that things have started to gradually normalize. Flights have since been resumed in Zimbabwe and tourism has been slowly picking up. Anyways, in this article, I want to discuss some of the tourism business ideas for Zimbabwe.
Photography And Videography Services
When people visit tourist attractions they obviously want to create memories. As much as most tourists bring their own cameras and all, the place for professional videographers and photographers remains. Ideally, the value proposition would be to ensure tourists enjoy their time without having to think about snapping pictures or shooting videos. It is more like the wedding experience where people pay to have someone capture all their moments. The same model can be used in tourist excursions.
Translation Services
There are times when foreign tourists come who are not conversant with English or local native languages. It can be hard for such people to navigate their way around. Language can be such a huge barrier and that would spoil the whole experience. Translation services can come in handy and good money can be paid for that. You would have to acquaint yourself with the native languages specific to a particular niche – there are about 14 official languages in Zimbabwe. Then you would learn to be conversant in international languages such as French, Spanish, Chinese, and the like. You can then be hired to move around with tourists translating for them where needed.
Online Directories
The idea is to create an online platform where people can find relevant details about service providers in the tourism industry. You can even create a comparative platform that enables users to compare service provider packages. Categories can be several e.g. accommodation, food, entertainment, and so on. Most local tourist attractions and related service providers are not comprehensively listed online so that is a gap that needs to be filled.
Travel Agencies
A travel agency can be a good tourism business in Zimbabwe. Often time people plan their trips and stay at tourist destinations on their own. A travel agency can bring the convenience of putting together tourist itineraries or helping people plan and roll out their trips and stays.
Transport Services
This is a broad segment and many approaches can be adopted here. You can provide transport services for doing airport pickups or drops. You can provide general taxi services within the vicinity of tourist attractions. You can also focus on or include services such as vehicle hire or rental. You can charge premium fees for such services and make good money.
Accommodation Services
This is a good business fit for the tourism industry. You can think outside the box regarding this. For instance, if you have a piece of land you can turn it into a caravan park or a campsite. You can also think of buying or building houses that you can use for self-service – more like the AirBnB model. With accommodation services, you can also include food and catering. You can set up braai spots or cosy mingling sites where people can have some fun. There are also several other related services that you can incorporate e.g. hosting functions and the like.
Native Art And Crafts
When people visit tourist destinations they obviously want to leave with some souvenirs. Native art and crafts are sought after at tourist destinations. The range is so broad spanning from sculptured pieces to locally-themed clothing items. You can be in the business of making and selling or you can source and sell. Some ordinary people make stone sculptures and go to sell them in Victoria Falls. They actually make a living through that so putting together around the selling of native art and crafts can be lucrative. You can just be doing it by the roadside or you can set up a shop specifically for that. All these items can be premium priced and in foreign currency so the prospects are good.
The pandemic has somehow brought in a new normal so it is important to re-evaluate the tourism industry. It might now be necessary to do things differently in certain areas. As I have always emphasised, running your operations online using digital platforms is now even more important. Another business idea I can highlight is tourism content creation. You can do this in several ways e.g. blogging and vlogging. Tourists themselves can even do this by documenting their experiences and sharing them. The other way is that you can dedicate travelling to tourist destinations just to document and share the content with the world. Doing can be most engaging and you can realize money from social media monetization and also ad placement deals.
