SADC Heads of State and their delegations should expect five-star hospitality services when they come to Zimbabwe for the regional bloc’s summit in August, Vice President Constantino Chiwenga has said.
The summit is scheduled to run from August 17 to 18, and President Mnangagwa will assume the chairmanship when Zimbabwe takes over the leadership of the regional bloc.
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VP Chiwenga has been touring facilities that will host SADC leaders and their delegations to assess their state of preparedness and the pace at which final touches are being made.
Yesterday, he toured the Rainbow Towers Hotel and Hyatt Regency Hotel (formerly Meikles Hotel) where the Presidential suites have been upgraded to ensure top-quality services and hospitality for the delegates.
Speaking to the media after assessing progress at the two hotels, VP Chiwenga said SADC delegates would be treated to premium hospitality during their stay in Zimbabwe.
“My assessment is that we are on target, it’s quite encouraging, all the 19 suites including the presidential suites are ready. We have just been at Rainbow Towers, by June they will be done, they have also gone a step further to do suites for VIPs like Foreign Ministers.
“But for the Heads of State there are 11 at Rainbow Towers and here (Hyatt Regency) we have got 8, with two top class Presidential suites and an imperial suite, and the rest can still take Heads of State,” he said.
VP Chiwenga said the upgrading of tourism infrastructure would not only appease the visiting Heads of State, but would also see Zimbabwe marketing itself as a tourist destination of choice.
Zimbabwe is priming to have a US$5 billion tourism industry by 2025.
“This development you see is not new, that is what we are talking about in the National Development Strategy 1. Tourism is being promoted across the country, if you have been to Victoria Falls, recently, you will see massive developments which have taken place in Victoria Falls, now we are putting our attention into our Metropolitan which is our capital, Harare, to first upgrade the facilities that we have and this on its own is going to attract more players into the business,” he said.
The Vice President said the coming in of US tourism players, Hyatt Regency, signalled a new trajectory for relations between Harare and Washington.
He also said Hyatt would be taking over the Africa Unity Square which is opposite the hotel, to give it a state-of-the-art facelift.
The Hyatt Regency brand is a global collection of hotels and resorts found in more than 200 locations in over 40 countries around the world.
“…and the hotels have just been upgraded, you might want to know that Meikles is now going to turn into Hyatt, it’s the first time we are going to have an American brand coming into the country and they are going to adopt the park (Africa Unity Square).
“They have just sunk in two boreholes and they are going to make it a state-of-the-art park. When you go up there you will see the swimming pool on the first floor and it’s all perfect, the accommodation has been upgraded and we see a lot of development for our country,” said VP Chiwenga.
On Thursday, VP Chiwenga toured roads leading to the New Parliament Building that are being upgraded by local companies Fossil Contracting, Bitumen World, and Exodus Company.
Speaking to the media after touring the Liberation City where he visited construction sites for the museum, hotel, and mall on Thursday, VP Chiwenga said Zimbabwe was on course to host a successful SADC summit and that funding is being availed to ensure everything goes according to plan.
Herald
