Hosia Mviringi
The hospitality industry has been thrown a lifeline as President officially allowed restaurants in Victoria Falls to start admitting patrons for sit in meals.
“HE President @edmnangagwa has directed that restaurants in Victoria Falls allow sit-in customers. Standing curfew regulations and WHO protocols remain in place.
The move is being taken cognisant of the fact that Victoria Falls has since achieved herd immunity,” said the statement posted by Information Secretary Nick Mangwana on his Twitter.
The announcement that was made yesterday July 31, 2021 follows hot on the heels of another milestone in the tourism sector when government officially reopened Kazungula and Victoria Falls land borders to fully vaccinated tourists.
In view of this earlier decision to open borders, it was seen as an imperative twin decision to allow tourists a chance to enjoy meals in restaurants.
Cabinet made the decision to open the two feeder land borders between Botswana’s Kasane and Zambia’s Livingstone towns after paying careful consideration the tourism and hospitality industry’s distress call to save jobs and revive the foreign currency earning sector.
Tourism has suffered the most from the continued closure of travel and activity restrictions since the advent of the novel coronavirus almost two years ago.
The nature of tourism as a person to person service industry directly militants against major Covid-19 protocols which discourages frequent and unnecessary travel, while emphasising remote service provision.
Services such as accommodation, outdoor excursions, food service and transfers make up the bulk of tourism packages which can not be offered virtually, this the need to open up the sector to personal interaction once again.
Victoria Falls is famed as one of a very few Cities in Southern Africa who have attained herd immunity against Covi-19 as the residents of the city religiously partook in the vaccination program at first call. Currently international airlines continue to make a bee line for the prestigious fly in slot into Victoria Falls for such reasons as the City’s tested Covid-19 response.
To safeguard the City’s residents, government has not lifted a ban on intercity travel imposed under the current level four lockdown.
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