Abstract:
The macro-economic and political challenges experienced in Zimbabwe in the last decade have impacted negatively
on the competitiveness of Zimbabwe as a tourist destination. However the new political and economic dispensation
ushered through the Government of National Unity (GNU) has created stable conditions thereby bringing in a new
lease of life for the Zimbabwe’s tourism sector to rebrand itself. This paper proposes that in this rebranding exercise
Zimbabwe can exploit its undiscovered tourist gems to regain competitiveness. These undiscovered tourist gems
include culture of the BaTonga people, the Shangaai people, and farm or agro-tourism in the Eastern Highlands,
Chimanimani area and Masvingo in terms of wildlife, Domboshava and Chiredzi in the lowveld as noted from the
research. A descriptive research design was used because the primary objective was to describe the effects of the
dynamic interaction between tourism branding, industry environment and its characteristics on tourism
performance. The paper proposes that the rebranding strategy, rather than being only an implementation strategy
for image promotion, relates to a way of understanding the changing branding process within a tourist destination.
