Masvingo is positioning itself as a gateway to a more integrated Zimbabwean tourism experience, using the 19th edition of the Sanganai/Hlanganani Dzimbahwe Tourism Expo to bring together business events, sport, gastronomy, music, culture and heritage.
The international tourism showcase, scheduled for 9 to 12 September at the Gymkhana Events and Conference Centre, will be preceded by a September Sports Tourism Carnival from 1 to 4 September and a Street Carnival on 5 September.
The expanded event signals a deliberate shift from treating tourism events as isolated activities towards creating a destination experience capable of attracting visitors, extending their stays and spreading expenditure across different sectors of the local economy.
Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Barbara Rwodzi and senior Government and tourism officials recently toured the Gymkhana Tourism Park, Masvingo Airport and the Great Zimbabwe Visitor Centre as preparations gathered pace.
The inspection was part of the efforts to ensure that the infrastructure supporting the expo is ready while identifying opportunities that can sustain tourism development after the event.
The decision to take Sanganai to Masvingo is rooted in the Government’s devolution agenda and the objective of ensuring that major economic opportunities reach different parts of the country.
The Ministry has linked the initiative to Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 2, with the devolved tourism expo expected to stimulate investment, infrastructure development, domestic tourism and international arrivals.
Masvingo’s strongest competitive advantage is its heritage. The Great Zimbabwe monument, which has stood for more than 800 years, provides an internationally recognisable identity for the province and gives the expo an opportunity to connect business tourism with Zimbabwe’s cultural heritage.
The Great Zimbabwe Visitor Centre will host the welcome cocktail for international tourism players, allowing hosted buyers and other visitors to encounter the heritage product while engaging with local tourism operators.
The tourism ministry is seeking to make the visitor experience broader than heritage alone.
The Sports Tourism Carnival will introduce an event-driven dimension, while the Street Carnival will bring gastronomy, music and cultural experiences into the agenda. The main expo will then provide the business platform through which tourism operators, buyers, exhibitors and other stakeholders can establish commercial relationships.
This combination is intended to create a tourism ecosystem in which visitors can move from sport to food, entertainment, heritage and business rather than experiencing each product in isolation.
The infrastructure being developed at Gymkhana further reflects this approach. The facility is expected to include a restaurant, bar, gastronomy hub, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority offices and a mini-stadium, with a conference centre planned as a future development.
Such facilities could strengthen Masvingo’s ability to compete for conferences, exhibitions, sporting events and other business gatherings after Sanganai has moved on.
The airport is also receiving attention, with refurbishment works expected to improve the province’s ability to accommodate increased visitor traffic. Road and expo-site improvements are similarly being undertaken as part of preparations.
The infrastructure push comes as international interest in the expo continues to grow. Recent figures indicated that 129 international buyers and 44 local buyers had registered, while 270 exhibitors had registered against a projected 450 participants.
Zimbabwe’s international marketing efforts are also beginning to broaden the event’s reach. Australia is expected to participate in Sanganai for the first time, while increased interest from the Indian market has been reported following exposure to tourism destinations showcased during the previous expo in the Eastern Highlands.
For Masvingo, the opportunity therefore extends beyond successfully hosting a four-day exhibition.
The province is seeking to use Sanganai as a platform for investment attraction in accommodation, restaurants, lodges, conference facilities and other tourism products, while strengthening linkages between established tourism operators and smaller local enterprises.
Minister Rwodzi has highlighted the need to move beyond simply increasing arrivals towards increasing tourism receipts, a shift that places greater emphasis on visitor spending, length of stay and the quality and diversity of tourism products.
The programme’s design reflects that ambition. A visitor arriving for sport can experience local food and music, explore heritage attractions and engage with tourism businesses. An international buyer attending the expo can be introduced to Great Zimbabwe and other attractions. A conference delegate can potentially return for leisure. Local businesses can gain from transport, accommodation, catering, crafts, entertainment and other services generated by increased visitor activity.
That is the larger proposition behind the Masvingo edition of Sanganai/Hlanganani/Dzimbahwe, not simply to host Zimbabwe’s flagship tourism trade fair, but to demonstrate how a major event can become a catalyst for destination development.
With sport, gastronomy, music, heritage, MICE tourism and investment brought into one programme, Masvingo is seeking to show that tourism growth can be built around an entire destination rather than a single attraction or event.
The success of the September programme could consequently provide a model for future devolved editions of Sanganai in which every host city uses the expo not merely to showcase what it has, but to build the infrastructure, partnerships and visitor experiences needed to sustain tourism long after the exhibition closes.
