Zimbabwe Banks and Hoteliers Meet
Zimbabwe’s banking and hospitality sectors have come together to work out how to fund a rapid upgrade of the country’s tourism infrastructure, as the country prepares to permanently host the Intra-African Trade Fair from 2029.
The Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) took part in the inaugural, two-day Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe (HAZ) Bankers Conference, held under the theme “Connecting Capital to Capacity: Unlocking Zimbabwe’s Tourism Potential Ahead of Hosting the Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF) 2029.”
The conference set out to strengthen ties between banks and hotel operators, with the aim of unlocking investment, upgrading tourism infrastructure and building capacity that meets international standards before the continental event arrives.
Organisers linked the initiative directly to National Development Strategy 2 (NDS2), which identifies tourism as a key driver of Zimbabwe’s economic transformation on the road to Vision 2030.
A Test Ahead of Africa’s Biggest Trade Showcase
Zimbabwe was named permanent host of the IATF last year, beating bids from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Malawi, Zambia and South Africa.
Under the arrangement, brokered by the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the fair’s new independent entity, the Intra-African Trade Fair Company, will be headquartered in Harare, with Zimbabwe hosting large-scale editions annually from 2029 until 2033, after which the country will alternate hosting duties with other African nations as the permanent base.
The scale of what Zimbabwe is taking on is considerable.
The most recent edition, held in Algiers in 2025, drew more than 112,000 visitors and over 2,100 exhibitors from 132 countries, generating deals worth more than US$48 billion.
Replicating anything close to that footfall will test Zimbabwe’s accommodation stock, conferencing facilities and transport links.
Hospitality Sector Flags Funding Gap
That test was laid bare during the bankers’ conference, where industry figures set out the scale of investment still required.
Rainbow Tourism Group’s Chief Strategy, Growth and Investment Officer, Tapiwa Mari, said refurbishment costs alone represented a serious financing challenge, with smaller operators facing a shortfall of around US$8 million and larger operators needing closer to US$30 million simply to bring existing properties up to standard.
New hotel development is similarly constrained. According to the 2026 Hotel Chain Development Pipelines in Africa report, only three branded hotel projects, totalling 432 rooms, are currently planned across the whole of Zimbabwe, with 300 rooms under construction and the remaining 132 still at the planning stage.
That falls well short of the government’s ambition to grow the country’s national accommodation stock to 10,000 hotel rooms within three years.
Deputy Minister Calls for Strategic Financing
Representing the Guest of Honour, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Barbara Rwodzi, Deputy Minister Tongai Mnangagwa told delegates that strategic financing and collective partnerships were essential to positioning Zimbabwe as a premier tourism, business and investment destination.
He said mobilising capital now would accelerate tourism product development, strengthen hospitality services, create employment and enhance Brand Zimbabwe’s global competitiveness, laying the foundation for a successful IATF 2029.
Urging financiers and operators to think beyond the trade fair itself, he said the task ahead was clearly laid out, and called for Zimbabwe to be positioned as a memorable destination of choice for visitors from across Africa and beyond.
Industry Calls for Tailored Financing Products
HAZ president Emmah Kativu, who took over leadership of the association late last year, used the platform to press financial institutions to design lending products better suited to the realities of the tourism trade, arguing that readiness for IATF 2029 was about more than construction, extending to governance, project management and service standards.
She also called on government to keep strengthening policy consistency and investment facilitation, while urging operators to improve transparency and project preparedness on their side.
What Comes Next
With sector-specific trade fairs expected to begin in Zimbabwe as early as 2028, ahead of the full-scale IATF events from 2029, the pressure is on for banks and hoteliers to move quickly from talk to committed capital.
The Bankers Conference, hosted for the first time this year, looks set to become a recurring fixture on Zimbabwe’s tourism calendar as the country counts down to its moment as host of Africa’s largest trade and investment platform.