COVID-19 blow for curio vendors

Hwange (New Ziana) – The COVID-19 pandemic has left a trail of untold suffering for curio vendors in the resort town of Victoria Falls and Hwange, with many of them reduced to beggars.

The pandemic, which led to international travel bans, has badly affected the region’s tourism industry, and by extension the curio vendors who depended on the foreign visitors.

Other sector players such as hotels, restaurants, and tour operators were equally badly affected, and some had to close shop because of lack of business, sending thousands of workers on indefinite leave without pay.

Some workers completely lost their jobs.

Jabulani Moyo, who has been a curio vendor for more than 20 years, could not hide his misery as he helplessly sat outside Busy Island Market located in the centre of Victoria Falls town.

“I have been selling at this market since the age of 18 after finishing my Form Four. I have never been employed anywhere because this has been a sustainable source of income for me and my family. I don’t know how I will be able to continue taking care of my wife and three children.”

The government last month announced the partial re-opening of the tourism industry for domestic clients, raising hopes for Moyo and hundreds of other curio vendors.

But the vendors said domestic tourists not only did not have the spending power of foreign visitors, they also do not march the curio tastes of their counterparts from abroad.

However, for the vendors, half a loaf from the domestic visitors is better than nothing, and they are appealing to the government to allow more inter-city travel for more tourists to come to Victoria Falls and Hwange.

“There is no way we can expect to get customers from local residents. They should allow people to travel from other towns and that way probably we can get customers. As it stands this is a dead business. The council wants rent and landlords are threatening to evict us. Some have relocated to their rural homes outside Victoria Falls because they could no longer afford to pay rent and buy food for their families,” Sifundo Gumbo, one of the vendors, said.

Major curio markets in Victoria Falls are Busy Island, Sinathankawu, Thokozani Craft Market, Tshaka’s Den, Zambezi Arts and Craft Women Centre, Elephants Walk and others dotted along the highway to Hwange whose operators target tourists going for game drives and village tours.

New Ziana