A Natural Wonder
The Zambezi River
The Victoria Falls
Formation of the Victoria Falls
People of the Victoria Falls
Enter the Ndebele
Discovery of the Victoria Falls
In Livingstone's Footsteps
Development of the Railway
To the Banks of the Zambezi
Development of the Falls
To The Congo
Development of Tourism
Development of Victoria Falls Town
Recent History
Further Information
Collectables

    
Discover the Victoria Falls with the Zambezi Book Company

To The Victoria Falls

Development of the Victoria Falls

Recent History



The following text is adapted from 'Footsteps Through Time - A History of Travel and Tourism to the Victoria Falls', researched and written by Peter Roberts and published in 2017. Please visit the Zambezi Book Company website for more information.



In the Spotlight

In mid 2005 the Zimbabwe government launched the notorious Operation Murambatsvina (‘Clear out the Rubbish’), also known as Operation Restore Order, forcibly clearing informally developed urban areas in major cities and towns, including Chinotimba, the African suburb at the Falls (Sokwanele, 2005).

Justified by officials as a legitimate operation to crackdown against illegal housing and an effort to control crime and the spread of infectious diseases, the areas targeted were incidentally also strongholds of political opposition against the regime in recent elections. Homes were bulldozed and burned without notice as whole suburbs were raised to the ground. The United Nations estimated some 700,000 people were displaced from their homes nationwide.

International arrivals to Zimbabwe fell to 1,558,501 in 2005, with only 201,438 overseas arrivals, the lowest levels since the highs of the late 1990s. Meanwhile the Zambian side of the river was operating at peak-season near-capacity, fuelling an increased growth in infrastructure development on the north bank. In 2004 visitors exploring the Zambian side of the Falls totalled 72,002, including 31,227 international visitors. Political and economic uncertainty south of the river resulted in this figure jumping to 179,786 in 2005, including a record number of 73,044 international visitors, before dropping to a total of 109,424 visitors and 36,792 international visitors in 2006 (Zambia Ministry of Tourism and Arts, 2014).

The Zambian National Tourism Board (ZNTB) experimented with floodlighting of the Eastern Cataract during 2004, utilising lights which had been installed in 1989, but not used due to the controversy the caused. The development was short-lived, with the Environment Council of Zambia instructing the ZNTB terminate the project and remove the floodlights.

Visitors to the Falls Rainforest totalled 161,834 in 2005, declining to 134,010 in 2006 before recovering to 194,575 in 2007 (World Heritage Committee, 2007). Average hotel room occupancy on the south bank of the Falls rose from 31 percent in 2005 to 38 percent in 2006 before dropping to 34 percent in 2007.

Come to Victoria Falls

In an effort to bypass negative perceptions of the country, tourism providers in Victoria Falls launched a campaign to directly market the destination.

“The improvement in output growth and receipts in the two years was a result of the tourism and hospitality sector efforts to manage the country’s damaged image through a perception management campaign which was rolled out in overseas markets. A Tourism and Image Building Task Force team was set up and tasked with the responsibility of mitigating the challenges in the sector and repositioning the country as ‘Africa’s Paradise.’ Led by the then Minister of Information and Publicity, the ‘Come to Victoria Falls’ campaign was rolled out. However, the political instability in the country and the elections of 2008 resulted in the deterioration of the sector in the year, overpowering the image-building efforts that had been implemented in the previous two years.” (Mugwati, Nkala and Mashiri, 2016)

Visitor arrivals to Zimbabwe recovered to reach successive record highs of 2,286,572 in 2006 and 2,505,988 in 2007, including 1,787,663 tourist visitors (self-identified as on holiday or visiting friends or relatives) in 2006 and a record number of 2,104,291 tourist visitors in 2007. Arrivals from African countries (including for non-tourism purposes) rose to highs of 2,290,608 in 2007, while overseas arrivals achieved modest increases from 203,555 to 215,380 in 2007. Visitors from European countries dropped to a low point of 96,849 in 2006 and North American arrivals followed with a low of 39,747 in 2007 (Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, 2008).

Legacy Lunacy

In October 2006 it was announced that the Zambian Wildlife Authority (ZAWA) had awarded a concession to South Africa’s Legacy Group Holdings for a major new tourism development within the World Heritage Site. The announcement stimulated a UNESCO monitoring mission to investigate the proposed development.

The proposed $200 million Mosi-oa-Tunya Hotel and Country Club Estate Project planned to develop a tourist resort on a 550 acre riverside site in the National Park. The plans included two five-star hotels, an 18-hole golf course, conference centre and a marina on the Zambezi, all a short distance above the Falls. The plans raised serious protests in among conservationists and led to the World Heritage Site status being questioned.

“‘We have benefited so much from the booming tourism here but we may lose out, as U.N.E.S.C.O. (the United Nation’s cultural agency) has already indicated to us plans of withdrawing the status of Victoria Falls as a World Heritage Site, should the construction of a Legacy Hotel be allowed to go on in the park,’ Nicholas Katanekwa, chair of the Livingstone Tourism Association, told the U.N. media.” (Victoria Falls Bits and Blogs, November 2006)

The plans stimulated a U.N.E.S.C.O. Reactive Monitoring Mission to investigate the proposed development in November. A moratorium on development within and surrounding the World Heritage Site was subsequently requested by U.N.E.S.C.O, pending agreement and implementation of a joint management plan for the site between the two state parties. As part of the review of the site the mission requested information on the 'number of helicopters and other aircraft, as well as cruise boats and jet boats that have been licensed to operate at the site.' Zimbabwe reported 37 registered boats and "an average 20 helicopter flights per day," while Zambia recorded "10 boats and 4 helicopters licensed" (World Heritage Commission, 2007).

After widespread negative public reaction and strong local opposition to the proposals, including the Zambia Environmental Agency ruling in 2007 that a golf course was not an acceptable development within the National Park, the project was abandoned by the developers. The U.N.E.S.C.O. imposed moratorium was lifted in 2008 in response to the successful adoption of a joint management plan for the site. Within the plan the boundary of the site was defined, including the upstream river corridor and 500 metre ‘buffer’ zone surrounding the site.

Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area

The Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) is a cooperative effort among five neighbouring countries - Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe - to link protected wildlife areas across international boundaries. The Victoria Falls is at the heart of the TFCA, near the meeting point of four of the five participating countries on the Zambezi at Kazungula.

This vast wilderness and wildlife area is the world’s largest transfrontier conservation project at approximately 520,000 square kilometres, a size rivalling that of France. Occupying the Okavango and Zambezi river basins, it includes 17 national parks and a host of game reserves, forest reserves, game management area, wildlife conservation and tourism concession reserves.

The region supports the largest contiguous population of African elephant, with more than 120,000 elephants recorded in recent aerial surveys from the Okavango/Chobe region, over 50,000 elephants in north-western Zimbabwe and 16,000 in north-eastern Namibia. Other focal species of conservation concern across the region include important populations of wild dog, lion and cheetah.

The TFCA was declared in 2006 with the signing of an Memorandum of Understanding between the five participating countries, followed by the signing of a formal Treaty in 2011 through which the park was legally established. The KAZA TFCA records its mission to ‘establish a world-class transfrontier conservation area and tourism destination in the Okavango and Zambezi river basin regions of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe within the context of sustainable development.’

A survey of tourism accommodation provision in the KAZA region, undertaken over 2004, estimated a bed-night capacity of 8,312 and a total annual guest-night figure of 782,200. Tourism revenues were estimated at over $100 million, with $89.4 million generated within the accommodation sector and $10.8 million by tour operators. Of the available accommodation capacity, 35 per cent was in Livingstone, 32 per cent in Victoria Falls, 17 in northern Botswana, 12 per cent in Caprivi and just four per cent along the Upper Zambezi.

“It is estimated that just over 318,640 guests spent one or more nights in the accommodation enterprises, and 782,200 bednights were sold in the region. Livingstone made 39 per cent of total KAZA TFCA sales, Victoria Falls made 25 per cent, northern Botswana [Chobe] made 23 per cent., Caprivi sold nine per cent of total bednights and establishments along the Upper Zambezi sold the remaining four per cent.” (Suich, Busch and Barbancho, 2005)

Next page: Challenging Conditions

References

Kararach, G. and Otieno, R. [Editors] (2016) Economic Management in a Hyperinflationary Environment. Oxford University Press.

Mugwati, M, Nkala, D. and Mashiri, E. (2016) Experiences in the Zimbabwe Hotel Industry during Hyperinflation. [In Kararach, G. and Otieno, R. [Editors] (2016)]

Sokwanele (2005) Clearing away the Trash. Online source.

Suich, H, Busch, J. and Barbancho, N. (2005) Economic Impacts Of Transfrontier Conservation Areas: Baseline Of Tourism In The Kavango–Zambezi TFCA. Conservation International South Africa.

Zambian Ministry of Tourism and Arts (2014) 2013 Tourism Statistical Digest.

Further Reading

Roberts, P. (2021) Footsteps Through Time - A History of Travel and Tourism to the Victoria Falls. Zambezi Book Company.

Footsteps Through Time - A History of Travel and Tourism to the Victoria Falls


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Discover the Victoria Falls with the Zambezi Book Company

'To The Victoria Falls' aims to bring you the wonder of the Victoria Falls through a look at its natural and human history.

This website has been developed using information researched from a wide variety of sources, including books, magazines and websites etc too numerous to mention or credit individually, although many key references are identified on our References page. Many of the images contained in this website have been sourced from old photographic postcards and publications and no infringement of copyright is intended. We warmly welcome any donations of photographs or information to this website.

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