Religious Tourism in Zimbabwe: A Stakeholders` Perspective

Introduction

Religious tourism has been well known for its huge economic gains and development of communities across the globe; however, there is dearth of literature on the impact of religious tourism activities on host communities in Zimbabwe. Nyikana (2017, p.1) noted that “... religious tourism has been in existence for centuries, there is still a dearth of academic focus on this tourism niche area especially in the developing world context”.

Religious tourism is one of the least explored types of tourism in Zimbabwe despite its huge resources, opportunities and perceived attendant benefits on the socio-economic front. A perusal of available literature shows that religious tourism has not been adequately discussed in Zimbabwe`s academia; with a glaring paucity of information on its contemporary state, socio-economic significance, and as well as its underlying challenges.

There has been profound developments in Zimbabwe`s religious tourism landscape prompting authorities to have keen interest on religious tourism regarding its potential impact on the broader travel and tourism industry (Sunday Mail, 11 March, 2018). However, the extent of religious tourism development in contemporary times, its contribution to the social and economic spheres, and the attendant challenges are still not clear at policy making level in the context of a developing nation state like Zimbabwe.

This chapter addresses an infrequently researched aspect of religious tourism as a contemporary issue and seeks to establish how it intersects with the main stream tourism industry in Zimbabwe. The present and primary concerns of this chapter is to provide a rigorous empirical analysis of the niche tourism market, adding to the limited information around this subject matter within Zimbabwe`s tourism discourse. The study relied upon interpretive qualitative data obtained through in-depth interviews and observation, since there is hardly documentation readily available on religious tourism in Zimbabwe.

Religious tourism has enormous economic benefits for the tourism industry as it is a catalyst to local economic and social development (Kruger and Saayman, 2014; Yolal et al., 2016; Getz and Page, 2015). Religious tourism is significant in so many ways to the Zimbabwean economy which has not been performing well. Zimbabwe`s economy is currently characterised by high unemployment in the formal sector, shrinking job opportunities, and endemic poverty (Mkono, 2012, Nyahunzvi, 2015, Zhou, 2016). It is against a back drop of a significant slump of international tourism traffic into the country stemming from the bad publicity the country has been subjected to at the international scene, that religious tourism is rekindling hope for a quick turn- around of the tourism sector. Concerted efforts are underway to scale up tourism development through policy interventions like granting the sector an export status, designating certain areas special economic zones status, as well as characterising tourism as a low hanging fruit that can quickly revitalise the moribund economy (Ministry of Finance and Economic Development; Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry, 2018).

Extant scholarship on tourism in Zimbabwe discusses various aspects of tourism from different perspectives (Mkono, 2012, Nyahunzvi, 2015, Zhou, 2018) but seldom explored religious tourism. A wave of religious tourism has engulfed the Zimbabwean tourism landscape lately, but the understanding of religious tourism by Zimbabwean policy makers and the academia in the broader sphere of tourism development trajectory is limited. This situation is further compounded by the scarcity of rigorous studies on religious tourism by the academia in Zimbabwe. Although Duran-Sanchez et al., (2018) acknowledged that publications on religious tourism are currently in an exponential growth stage, it is the United States that is at the forefront of religious tourism research, which is in sharp contrast on Zimbabwe.

Resultantly, the chapter seeks to contribute towards this. To this effect, the chapter seeks to: establish the current state of religious tourism development in Zimbabwe, amplifying on measures which the government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) have put in place to support further development of religious tourism; determine the socio-economic significance of religious tourism in Zimbabwe; and identify challenges associated with religious tourism in Zimbabwe. It is envisaged that a nuanced understanding of religious tourism in Zimbabwe can be gleaned from interrogating these objectives and the stance taken by the ZTA and Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality industry (MECOTHI) in supporting the development of religious tourism.