Tour operators given two weeks to comply

Tour operators have been given until 14 February to comply with the Tourism Receipt Accounting System which was introduced to plug leakages of earnings within the sector especially non-consumptive tourism.

Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe acting governor Charity Dhliwayo said TRAS was introduced to plug loopholes that drained the economy of substantial tourism receipts but a significant number of tour operators were not complying with the requirements to submit forms to the Reserve Bank every month.

“In terms of Section 35 (1) of the Exchange Control Regulations (Statutory Instrument 109 of 1996), all non-compliant tour operators are being directed to immediately regularize their positions before the close of business on Friday 14 February, 2014,” the acting governor said in her monetary policy statement.

She did not state how much the country was losing but tourism currently accounts for 10 percent of the gross domestic product and 13 percent of employment.

The contribution to GDP was expected to increase to 15 percent by next year.

The Ministry of Tourism was allocated only US$6.2 million in the 2014 budget.

It had requested US$73.2 million.

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