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Ministry introduces industrial tourism |
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Wednesday, 04 July 2012 15:24 |
 The Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry has embarked on industrial tourism which focuses on packaging big companies as tourist attractions under its product diversity programme following an interest shown by tourists to visit the local industry.
Industrial tourism is one of the new concepts locally and occurs when visitors have a curiosity about production processes and an appreciation of what happens behind the scenes before a final product is released in any industry or manufacturing company.
Matabeleland North Provincial Tourism Officer in the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Cleopas Chasara said his ministry has chosen to package Hwange Colliery as a starting point and identified strategic areas within the mine such as the dragline machine at the open cast mine, the Kamandama Memorial Site, the processing plant and the steam engine train as some of the sites which the which the visitors will see.
“In fact we are reliably informed that there is a former National Railways of Zimbabwe employee by the name Geoff Cook he has since relocated to Europe. We are told he has been influencing many Europeans to come to Hwange mainly for the steam locomotives, for it’s a darling of many,” he said.
He said his ministry has also identified potential in the Zimbabwe Power Company and the National Railways of Zimbabwe so that they can be included in catalogues.
The concept of industrial rourism has been fully implemented in Swaziland where a glass manufacturing firm was identified as a site and tourist arrivals there have exceeded the country’s expectations.
The concept is also in fully implemented in Japan where tourists visit industrial plants and chemical manufacturing companies under the “Kojo Mojoe Concept,” meaning that people see beauty in what others see as unattractive sites which are sources of pollution.
The mining town is not only close to other attractions such as the wildlife at Hwange National Park but has other enabling facilities such as banks, supermarkets and decent accommodation.
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