Zimbabwe is excited about the potential of sport tourism, which will help sell the country to the rest of the world, urging the government to invest more in the sport industry.
“Zimbabwe is expecting to receive more than a hundred direct participants for shooting and 40 for triathlon, who will be accompanied by family and friends,” Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation minister Kirsty Coventry was quoted by The Standard newspaper as saying.
“Once again, this pouring visit for sport by athletes and enthusiasts spells how sport has become a lucrative and continually growing marketplace worthy of immense investments for tourism.”
Zimbabwe recently hosted the Troutbeck (ATU) Triathlon African Cup at the Nyanga resort, which attracted athletes from 10 different countries.
More athletes from 16 countries will also gathered recently in Victoria Falls for the Africa Sport Shooting Championships.
Zimbabwe has in the recent past years hosted the ICC World Cup qualifiers as well as the 2016 World Rugby Under-20 Trophy.
Zimbabwe’s tourist arrivals fell by 11% to 2,29 million in 2019 due to destination image issues, according to the country’s tourism authority.
The tourism authority attributed the decline to “destination image issues”.
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