Is Zimbabwe ready to venture into the cultural tourism market?

Abstract

Zimbabwe has long relied solely on abundant wildlife resources to attract tourists. The government land reform programme has, however, resulted in the significant depletion of these resources. In this paper, cultural tourism is suggested as a complementary attraction to domestic tourists. The findings of the study, based on a questionnaire administered face-to-face, indicate that to enter this market Zimbabwe will need to build capacity in areas such as personnel, where frontline staff will need to be recruited, trained and motivated to meet customer needs. In conclusion, it is mentioned that the unstable economic and political climate prevailing in Zimbabwe militates against the development of cultural attractors.

1.INTRODUCTION

The contribution of tourism to sustainable development, especially in developing economies, has been of interest to researchers (Cater, 1993; Doan, 2000; Sharpley, 2000; Saarinen, 2006). This is particularly important for economies that have traditionally relied on agricultural raw materials to earn foreign currency, as the prices of these commodities have declined in international markets (Sinclair, 1998). Consequently, tourism is seen as a panacea for economic revival of these economies (Ankomah & Crompton, 1992). Zimbabwe is no exception in this regard. The country is facing the worst economic crisis since attaining independence from British settler colonialism in 1980.

Zimbabwe, like most other sub-Saharan African countries, has for long relied almost solely on abundant wildlife as its main tourism attraction. The major attraction was the large numbers of the ‘big five’: buffalo, elephant, rhinoceros, leopard and lion. It also boasts thousands of different bird species living in their natural habitats (Eagles, 1997). Until recently these assets attracted tourists on hunting, walking or photographic safaris, trophy hunters, bird watchers and general tourists.

However, since the Zimbabwe government launched the land reform programme in 2000 this once booming tourist industry has significantly declined. The land reform programme was characterised by large-scale dispossession of commercial farms, ranches and wildlife conservancies, some of which were an important component of the tourism industry (Manwa, 2003).

The negative ripple effects of the international perceptions of the land reform programme on Zimbabwe's tourism industry have already been felt. In 2000, when the land reform programme was introduced, international tourist arrivals declined by 40 per cent and international tourism receipts by 38.1 per cent from 1999 figures (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, 2002a). In 2004, tourism arrivals decreased by 17.8 per cent and receipts by 19.7 from 2003 figures (WTO, 2005).

Given this scenario, it appears that the traditional wildlife based tourism will not be a viable niche market for Zimbabwe in the long term. Hence it becomes critical to explore other tourism attractors to complement it. Cultural tourism seems to offer an alternative option. This article reports on research undertaken in Zimbabwe to investigate the possibility of the country diversifying into cultural tourism. The aim of the study was to explore the prospects for, and the extent to which, cultural tourism could be developed as a complementary attractor for Zimbabwean domestic tourism. The study was guided by two research questions: 1) Does Zimbabwe have a unique cultural tourism product to attract domestic tourists? 2) To what extent is Zimbabwe ready to diversify into a cultural tourism market?

Section 2 which follows briefly reviews the available literature on cultural tourism. Section 3 describes the study's methodology and Section 4 presents the results. Section 5 offers an analysis and policy recommendations, and Section 6 concludes.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Cultural tourism

Cultural tourism signifies a shift in the evolution of tourist behaviour from mass tourism, motivated mainly by the traditional four S's of tourism – Sea, Sand, Sun and Sex – to adventure motivated tourism (Gray, 1970). This shift is often associated with the degree of societal affluence that influences tastes and fashions (Munt, 1994). Affluent societies tend to seek more challenges and adventure. This therefore partly explains the rising popularity of cultural tourism (Moulin, 1990).

Markwick (1999) gives a detailed definition of cultural tourism. For the purpose of this paper, cultural tourism means travel mainly motivated by the desire to experience cultural facets different from one's own. Included under ‘culture’ are performing arts, festivals, built heritage, museums, monuments, traditions and objects.

A number of reasons for favouring this market segment of the tourism industry have been advanced in the literature. At the forefront is the issue of sustainability. The culture market has been characterised as having a low impact on the destination because the relatively low visitor volumes involved lessen the negative ecological impacts that are generally associated with ‘sun lust’ tourists who usually travel in large numbers on packaged tours (Butler, 1990).

More importantly, for a destination in decline (Butler, 1980) such as Zimbabwe at the moment, this type of tourism can be rejuvenating (Meeherhoff, 1991), because cultural tourists are higher spenders than other types and because they can be instrumental in the economic development of local communities through their financial support of local cultural manifestations (Zeppel & Hall, 1992). Moreover, as has been argued by Palmer (1999), cultural tourism can be a powerful tool for fostering national identity and nostalgia. The pre-colonial history of most sub-Saharan African countries was oral, with no written records. The fragmented record of the past was transmitted from generation to generation largely through storytelling. Cultural tourism can therefore be a powerful tool for portraying the past in the present, and therefore part and parcel of the cultural tradition of a society (Prideaux & Kinimont, 1999).

Butler (1998), however, cautions that cultural tourism can also lead to the depletion of ecosystems. He argues that without proper planning and management even cultural tourism can eventually develop into mass tourism if tourism operators, in an effort to make super-normal profits, attract large numbers of tourists to the resources. This could further endanger fragile environments.

Christie and Crompton (2001a,b) have suggested that African governments should play a leading role in tourism development through ‘regulatory frameworks that ensure economic, environmental and cultural sustainability, poverty alleviation and social inclusion’. Formulation of such frameworks should be a cooperative effort by all stakeholders (for example the private sector, NGOs and local communities). Adequate fees should be charged to finance the preservation and conservation of tourism assets and thus make them self-sustaining, and local communities should be involved in decisions about the use of resources, so as to encourage them to support tourism development. More importantly, tourism development should improve their quality of life. In studies in Borobudur in Java, Indonesia, Hampton (2005) notes that although local communities are custodians of such attractions they are not always involved in decisions about the heritage and cultural sites nor do they derive any benefits from tourism development. To avoid negative environmental impacts, new cultural destinations like Zimbabwe would then need to implement some precautionary measures to ensure sustainability.

2.2 Cultural tourism in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe has a unique product to offer cultural tourists. It is home to four World Heritage sites, the Great Zimbabwe Ruins and Victoria Falls, which are the country's tourist icons, Mana Pools National Park and the Khami Ruins. Great Zimbabwe is the country's largest archaeological site and the largest archaeological monument in sub-Saharan Africa (Garlake, 1973). It represents the great civilisation that existed in the country between 1200 and 1500 AD (Pwiti, 1996). The Victoria Falls is one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.

In addition to these World Heritage sites, the city of Bulawayo is custodian to two major historical features, the Old Bulawayo site, which was built by King Lobengula as the first capital of the Ndebele Kingdom, and the Matobo Hills, which are of spiritual significance to the Ndebele and Shona people. Important traditional ceremonies are conducted at shrines in these hills; for example, during severe drought rainmaking ceremonies are often performed at the Njelele shrine. It is believed that the ancestral spirits of the people live among the hills. Cecil Rhodes (the architect of Rhodesia) is also buried in the Matobo Hills at World's View.

Zimbabwe prides itself on being home to over 3000 prehistoric Later Stone Age art sites, mostly in the form of rock paintings (Walker, 1995); a diversity of museums and monuments; and the Nyanga ancient agricultural terraces and pit structures, the oldest in sub-Saharan Africa. Another important artefact is the ‘Paper House’, which as Zimbabwe's first prefabricated building was imported from Great Britain in 1894 as the residence of the Globe and Phoenix Mines' general manager.

3. METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

This exploratory study solicited the views of Zimbabwean and foreign visitors to Zimbabwean heritage sites on what they perceived to be the most effective communication channels to attract heritage tourists and on how their tour could be enriched and made meaningful (Moscardo, 1999). The study was part of a nationwide survey that covered the five NMMZ (National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe) regions. The sample for the study was randomly selected. It consisted of every third person who visited the heritage sites between December 2003 and February 2004. This period was chosen because it coincided with Christmas and school holidays in Zimbabwe, during which time many Zimbabwe families visit tourist destinations in the country (Child & Heath, 1989).

As primary data, the study used a questionnaire with both closed and open-ended questions to collect data. Ten research assistants (two in each region) were employed to administer the questionnaire face to face. This yielded a 90 per cent response rate (373 usable questionnaires). The questionnaire covered demographic data (age, gender, occupation and country of permanent residence), publicity and advertising, facilities and quality issues. As secondary data, NMMZ records and existing literature were reviewed to establish the level of heritage tourism in Zimbabwe.

4. RESULTS

4.1 Resident status of respondents

Ninety per cent of the respondents were Zimbabweans and the rest were foreigners. This was not surprising considering that the country was experiencing the worst economic and political crisis since attaining independence in 1980. A number of the country's source markets, notably the UK, Germany and the US, had issued warnings to their citizens travelling to Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, 2002a). Among the foreigners, 23 were from South Africa, 13 from Belgium and one from the UK. Historically, South Africa has always contributed more than 60 per cent of the international tourists visiting Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, 1999).

4.2 Demographics of visitors to heritage sites

Contrary to observations in Australia and the US where the majority of museum visitors were over 50, visitors to Zimbabwean museums and monuments were relatively young: 57 per cent were aged between 19 and 30, 33 per cent were 50 and above and 10 per cent were 15 years and below (Kerstetter et al., 2001).

Categorised by gender, 62 per cent of respondents were men. The responses also showed that 80 per cent of the respondents were in formal employment, which is unsurprising given that visitors are required to pay an admission fee to Zimbabwe's heritage sites. Considering the harsh economic conditions prevailing in the country, it can be assumed that the majority of frequent visitors to heritage sites would be Zimbabweans with disposable income (Prideaux & Kinimont, 1999).

4.3 Reasons for visiting heritage sites

Surprisingly, the study found that Zimbabwean heritage site visitors' motives differed from those recorded in the literature, the main one being entertainment (57 per cent) while the literature records adventure or education as dominant (Kerstetter et al., 2001). While adventure and education may not have been the dominant motives for the majority of the sample in this study, they were nevertheless meaningful for the 34 per cent of respondents who gave these as their reasons for visiting the heritage sites. The smallest proportion (9 per cent) consisted of those who were part of organised school or research trips to learn about Zimbabwean history, heritage and culture.

4.4 Media supplying information on heritage tourism

The media through which respondents came to know about Zimbabwean heritage tourism were newspapers (42 per cent), travel brochures (25 per cent), the NMMZ organisation (11 per cent) television or radio (10 per cent), schools (7 per cent), posters and postcards (5 per cent).

Respondents were asked to suggest what media NMMZ could use to reach a wider market. The suggestions, in order of importance, were as follows: brochures displayed at all major tourist resorts and in hotel lobbies (67 per cent), public lectures organised by NMMZ on an interesting topic that would act as a pull factor for the public (25 per cent), television and radio talk shows and newspaper and internet advertisements (6 per cent). The smallest percentage (2 per cent) suggested that NMMZ should mount educational programmes to cover both primary and secondary schools. Discussions with the NMMZ education department, however, revealed that NMMZ was already running such programmes though they were limited to a few urban schools, which might explain why few people were aware of the existence of these programmes.

4.5 Information before a visit

When asked what they would like to be informed about before visiting a heritage site, the respondents mentioned: the relationship between various heritage products and the historical significance of each heritage site (44 per cent), the various displays (40 per cent), the theme of the site (10 per cent), and the catering facilities available at each heritage site (only 6 per cent).

4.6 Perceptions of what constitutes a quality museum

An open-ended question asked respondents to indicate their perceptions of a quality museum. The traits listed are ranked in order of importance in Table 1. The highest ranked was that all museums must have a unique theme (45 per cent), for example Later Stone Age rock paintings. Respondents expressed the view that museums should be innovative and interactive (23 per cent). An example mentioned was the Mining Museum in the Central Region which could expose visitors to the process of mining by actually letting them go down a mine shaft. This, it was argued, would offer them a much more meaningful experience than being shown the artefacts or tools used in mining. This observation seems to tally very well with the suggestion that museums should not have permanent displays (8 per cent), but that from time to time they should showcase something new. Some respondents noted that some of the displays had not changed since they had last seen them when they were in high school more than a decade earlier.

Table 1: Perceptions of a quality museum

Trait	Number	%
Depiction of one theme	168	45
Interactive/innovative	84	23
Good collection of cultural artefacts	63	17
Varied and non-permanent displays	28	8
Miniature displays of other museums	20	5
Miniature displays of Great Zimbabwe monument	6	1.5
Facilities for disabled visitors	4	0.5
Total	373	100

Another important characteristic of a quality museum was that it must have a good collection of cultural artefacts (17 per cent). This seems to be in line with the reasons advanced by the respondents for visiting museums, which included, among other things, experiencing the culture of the people and being part of history. Respondents also suggested that each museum should provide information on what was available at other museums in the country (5 per cent). It was suggested that this would give the visitor a synopsis of what the complete Zimbabwean heritage tourism product entailed, thereby influencing the visitor's decision whether or not to visit other museums in Zimbabwe. Although Table 1 shows that only a small percentage of the sample (0.5 per cent) mentioned the inadequacy of facilities for disabled visitors, during field visits I noted that the museums and other heritage sites did not cater for people with disabilities. For example most museums did not have ramps for wheelchairs.

4.7 Service quality

This section discusses respondents' perceptions of the quality of service at a typical heritage site. Their responses show that they emphasised Gronroos' (1984) technical quality service encounters, that is, the way service was delivered by frontline employees – in this case, tour guides. They voiced the opinion that tour guides should be conversant with the Zimbabwean heritage product, articulate, competent, friendly and helpful, so that visitors would carry home with them the feeling of being more educated than before they undertook the tour. The tour should raise nostalgic feelings of being part of history. Foreign respondents suggested language training should be emphasised in the recruitment and training of tour guides. They should be fluent in English and another European language. Lastly, respondents felt that tour guides should be conversant with issues of conservation so as to be able to educate visitors on the sustainability of Zimbabwe's heritage resources.

The second part of the question here asked respondents to comment on whether the Zimbabwean heritage employees with whom they had come into contact met some of the above requirements. All respondents agreed that the Zimbabwean heritage sites tour guides were friendly; however, most of them were only knowledgeable about the site where they were stationed. Another observation was that tour guides were not adequately trained to enhance the visitor's experience. This impression was confirmed by my probe into NMMZ tour guides' educational credentials. My findings were that 45 per cent of tour guides did not have basic secondary education and had problems expressing themselves in any language other than their mother tongue (e.g. Shona or Ndebele). Although 35 per cent had attained secondary level educational qualifications, they did not have any other training to enhance their interpretation skills. Only 22 per cent had the requisite education and training to act as effective tour guides, such as a full high school diploma (five Ordinary Level passes) plus a diploma in marketing, tour guiding or public relations.

Another quality issue was the lack of knowledge about conservation and its impact on the sustainability of Zimbabwe's heritage and cultural resources. During my field visits, I noted that some visitors had gone so far as to deface some Later Stone Age rock paintings by writing graffiti on these sensitive sites. This had irreparable consequences for the authenticity of the site (Hatch, 1988).

5. ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

This study showed that Zimbabwe has a unique cultural product which can be used to complement wildlife based tourism attractors. It has, however, raised three issues which must be addressed before the country can diversify into cultural tourism: publicity and advertising, service quality and facilities.

5.1 Publicity and advertising

To effectively reach, and motivate, Zimbabweans to visit heritage sites, more publicity is called for, through a variety of media: print, videos and documentaries about cultural tourism in Zimbabwe. Publicity materials should give as much information as possible, to let the potential tourist know what to expect. In addition, travel brochures should be developed and placed in all strategic places such as hotels and publicity centres.

5.2 Service quality

Moscardo (1999) has noted the importance of interpretation in making visitors sensitive to their impact on the fragile ecosystems of the places they visit. She has argued that without properly trained tour guides visitors will not have a meaningful experience. In the Zimbabwean case, since the majority of visitors to the heritage and cultural sites were mainly domestic tourists, frontliners must speak at least the two main local languages, Shona and Ndebele. More importantly, tour guides should be trained in product knowledge, conservation and customer care. Well-trained tour guides would help reduce the costs incurred through damage to the sites from graffiti, tourists' complaints and site marketing. Satisfied customers will guarantee repeat business (Anderson et al., 1994; Hallowell, 1996).

In the tourism sector Zimbabwe seems to be suffering from the lack of qualified staff that has been noted in other developing countries (Ankomah & Crompton, 1992). If Zimbabwe is to attract tourists it must focus on NMMZ's employees. Elements to be looked into include:

• A review of current competencies and recruitment policy. Human resources policies need to be re-examined to ensure that competent personnel are recruited to occupy frontline positions.

• Staff training and development. New employees should be subjected to intensive staff training and development programmes so that they are able to sell the heritage tourism product.

• Motivation of employees through improved remuneration packages. While this particular aspect was not the major focus of this paper, studies undertaken in Zimbabwe have shown that remuneration packages offered by the tourism industry are much lower than those offered by other industries, with the result that the industry is unable to recruit higher calibre staff (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, 2002b).

5.3 Facilities

NMMZ should ensure that they meet the expectations of the market, for example by providing interactive displays, facilities for disabled visitors, and a miniature of each heritage display in all museums around the country depicting the regional distribution of different cultural themes. These should be arranged so as to portray the uniqueness of Zimbabwe's cultural heritage.

6. CONCLUSIONS

The World Tourism Organization has noted that the economic and social conditions prevailing in a country have a strong influence on the growth of domestic tourism (WTO, 1995: 2). In particular, the middle classes should be well developed and reasonably Affluent, and have disposable income and a desire to travel. In Zimbabwe, unfortunately, the opposite is true, as the country is currently experiencing a serious political and economic crisis and the middle class is rapidly shrinking. There is a diaspora of skilled middle-class citizens. In addition, 80 per cent of the population is unemployed. These problems militate against the development of domestic tourism and the country's ability to develop its heritage sites and museums into world-class attractions.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Haretsebe A Manwa

1Senior Lecturer, Department of Management, University of Botswana, Gaborone.