TOTAL tourism is the foundation for the entrepreneurial ecosystem to remain competitive. As noted in the previous instalment, as a country, we must be clear about what we want in the industry and its key players to remain sustainably competitive.
We therefore, need to calibrate our country’s brand touch points to sustain the industry, which is very timid to contradictions.
As informed by Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Barbara Rwodzi, major hotels were fully booked for the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Tourism Expo between September 12 and 14. It is a positive trajectory towards revamping the tourism sector through Expos.
This should spread across all regions of the country to make these events regular practice.
Of course, this platform has been part of the annually planned events in Zimbabwe tourism, but from this current overwhelming experience, we have seen that we can even do much better going forward.
Suffice it to say we need to collapse the silos.
We can’t have a thriving tourism overbearing one side of the scale when, for example, we could maximise the sports tourism, which in this case is a disjuncture.
We can’t be taken seriously when we fail to build infrastructure that allows our national flag and teams to fly high in our own country, playing matches in Rwanda, Botswana and South Africa.
We need to reflect on the total tourism concept for our tourism small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs to thrive.
As we celebrate weekends relaxed from hard work across the urban and rural settings, we can develop monthly expos guided by different themes based on the endowments/experiences available to us as given by Mother Nature or born out of creativity.
It is possible, as reminded by the current Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe President, Brian Nyakutombwa, who emphasised the need for the collaborative effort by different players in the industry to revamp tourism in the Eastern Highlands.
This is critical in bridging gaps resulting from individual efforts, which are derailing progress by our promising tourism entrepreneurs around the country.
Tourists buy packages which are a composite of various activities that cannot be provided by an individual player most of the time.
We then go back to the drawing board and invite artificial intelligence to be a glue for future collaborative tourism entrepreneurship.
That is when data, satellites and automated predictors help in quick responses/solutions for better satisfaction of our potential tourists through specific/customised packages.
Various promising touristic places are not even geo-mapped for domestic and international visitors, yet AI can do that by simply clicking the touchpad.
Data management/mining to know the actual numbers demanding certain products/services and in which region of the country can also be derived easily in the advent of these technologies.
Our tourism entrepreneurs, working together with the ministry and related stakeholders, can go far with these applications in bringing back Zimbabwe as a tourism destination of choice.
Even with the muddled image the world will realise that we are a safe tourism destination for all types of visitors.
Re-imagining tourism expos in the age of AI
As we broadly invite AI to the expo of our tourism gifts, we must hazard to point out that these proposed interventions work, all things being equal, as tourism is a timid animal that flees at slight irritations from the broader political, social, technological, environmental and economic variables by the communities, entrepreneurs, big players and government, hence the need for a standardised framework as we advance.
It is time for a sustainable collaboration for all stakeholders to be harnessed by AI so that no one is left behind.
Of course, some individuals/organisations have started the journey in this direction, but when broadly done, the fortunes will be greater than ever imagined.
This should be a structured launch of AI Entrepreneurial Tourism Expos across all the regions where we modernise our way of doing smart, sustainable, low-volume and high-value tourism.
This is by taking an expo as a gateway towards modernising and preserving both the rural and urban centres with discipline and persistence.
Unlike other expos done so far this requires a building block approach where contemporary satellite, wired and static technologies are fused in tourism packaging and have these build from one to another through harvesting from incremental gains and addressing challenges.
In rethinking the tourism expos at a global level, there is a need for an assessment of how our cultural heritage, arts, sports, and entertainment can be part of the broader country branding strategy.
This is because these variables are less polarising, especially where politics, cultures, religion, and economic status divide opinion.
That’s how we harness the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) to catapult our sustainable approaches to country/destination branding and entrepreneurship.
Relating to some branding perspectives
Then entrepreneurial tourism through AI will help spearhead a positive country/destination brand management.
Take-away points entail that countries/destinations are associated with snippets of history, recent or more distant, imaginary elements, the personality traits of their inhabitants, key competencies and accomplishments.
In this regard, competitive countries/destinations invest in their systems and position themselves globally as great for the global citizens to live, study, invest and do business with – as well as investing!
Country names are, therefore, names with brand power!
They have the power to influence through the spontaneous associations they evoke, for good or for ill, and through the emotions they stir up!
Through expos, we have an opportunity to reflect on the type of climate that is best suitable to achieve the best out of what we have through enabling policy propositions, climate critical for investment, collaborative elements required, and an arts, sports, and culture-first communication strategy that is inward and outward facing.
This brand power (influence) through tourism is nevertheless linked to specific products: Italy is a great cultural brand, a sign of quality and creativity in the fashion market.
The United States has a wide effect: We voluntarily ‘consume’ its brands and their effective evocations when we buy Coca-Cola, generally referred to as the water of America, jeans (the clothing of America), American cinema from Hollywood and when the whole world accept the dollar as the base of international exchange.
Germany is highly held to high standards for its innovations and durability in the automobile industry and industrial equipment worldwide, among others.
Botswana is a brand built on mastering and perfecting the art of diamond extraction and anchoring it as the bloodstream for national development.
Even rural communities are electrified from these proceeds.
The South Africa of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki was premised on the competencies of being a competitive international relations player resolving conflicts around the continent, self-sustenance in economic management and sphere heading African Renaissance.
New Delhi, in India, has more than 100 people working full time on “Brand India” and the execution of its global communication programme “Incredible India” to sustainably position India and its entrepreneurs as the best globally.
Further, India is strong on medical tourism due to its competitive medical services.
Rwanda positions Kigali as a ‘Miracle of the World’ showcasing the power of leadership in shaping a durable and sustained brand strategy where all the services and products attract visitors from across the world to experience the story of change built on the rubbles of genocide and emerging with a country showcasing the resilience of humanity in fighting adversity.
It showcases the responsiveness and ease of doing business as businesses take less than 24 hours to be registered online.
As we approach the Expos for Zimbabwe, let’s ask ourselves the hard questions – What do we want?
The above global brand recognition for the respective countries was achieved through the following three critical brand management processes:
Consistent unified communications founded on a central idea of brand positioning
Translation of the idea to specific messaging and visual style
Utilising multiple channels of media ranging from film, music, arts etc., thereby making the brand a living reality
Zimbabwe can do better, through the vehicle of AI entrepreneurial tourism expo, by strengthening the nexus between country branding, entrepreneurship and destination marketing.
*Dr Farai Chigora is a businessman and academic. He is a senior lecturer at the Africa University’s College of Business, Peace, Leadership and Governance. Also a global business modelling practitioner. His doctoral research focused on business administration (destination marketing and branding ajor, Ukzn, SA). He is into agribusiness and consults for many companies in Zimbabwe and Africa. He writes in his personal capacity and can be contacted for feedback and business at fariechigora@gmail.com, www.fachip.co.zw, WhatsApp mobile: +263772886871.
*Dr Tabani Moyo is an extra-ordinary researcher with the University of North West, South Africa’s Social Transformation School. His holds doctorate in Business Administration (Research focus on new media and corporate reputation management, UKZN), chartered marketer, fellow CIM, communications and reputation management expert based in Harare. He can be contacted at moyojz@gmail.com @TabaniMoyo (X)