A situational analysis of Zimbabwe’s domestic tourists’ travel trends

Abstract

Over the past years, tourism participation has grown from being a luxury to a basic need that every human should enjoy. In developed countries, various mechanisms have been implemented to help local people to actively participate in tourism first as domestic tourists and later as international tourists. In developing countries, domestic tourism has been overlooked leading to it being underdeveloped and under-researched. Using qualitative methodology where in-depth interviews were used to collect data from 45 conveniently selected domestic tourists and tourism suppliers the study sought to analyse Zimbabwe’s domestic tourists travel trends. Study findings revealed that the travel trends were characterised by prefer ence for particular destinations, destinations connectivity, activities, travel times, travel parties and specific spending patterns. It was concluded that Zimbabweans are active domestic tourists though they participate mainly as informal travellers whose travel trends are not tracked and accounted for in formal tourism documentation.