THE Easter holidays have seen the Christian community increasing local tourism revenue, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority head of corporate affairs, Godfrey Koti, has said.
RUVIMBO MUCHENJE
Koti spoke to The NewsHawks on how national tourism revenue streams are responding to holiday travel and he said religious tourism peaks during this holiday and reverberates on the revenue of the sector.
“Domestic tourism has also grown in leaps and bounds. Last year we recorded 12.8 million trips within, so we are hoping also that this will spur activities for this Easter in the country, particularly with what we call religious tourism where people go for their pilgrimages,” said Koti.
Different sects within the Christian fraternity are going on church camps to commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, resulting in increased bookings countrywide.
“There are places that are really packed, you go to Bernard Mizeki, it’s one of the places that are really packed. You go to Mbungo in Masvingo for the ZCC guys, it’s also packed. You go to Bindura for the Zaoga guys, they are also packed there,” said Koti.
“What it means is that there is a concentration in Marondera, Masvingo and Bindura with these pilgrimages where thousands of congregants are following these churches.
“Here in Harare, you talk of the likes of Makandiwa, I know they have got a celebrity pastor that has just come in today. We will obviously expect people to move from all corners of the country to witness those kinds of events, then in Bulawayo you also have the Anglican diocese congregating people at St Columbu’s, we have the Roman Catholic across the country,” he said.
ZCC members and all other mainline churches have for decades travelled from all over the country for annual Easter pilgrims.
