Tourism Bill H.B. 7, 2025

The Tourism Bill would repeal the Tourism Act [Chapter 14:20] and rebuild the regulation of the tourism and hospitality industry around a Zimbabwe Tourism Authority. It is a proposal before Parliament; nothing in it binds anyone unless and until it is enacted and brought into force.

The Authority would be a body corporate governed by a Board, with a chief executive officer, taking policy directions from the Minister, preparing annual programmes and budgets for approval, and funded partly by grants from a new Zimbabwe Tourism Fund. A holding company — Mosi Oa Tunya Development Company (Private) Limited — would hold government-controlled tourist facilities, with power for the Minister to register subsidiaries under it.

The change most likely to catch people who do not think of themselves as being in the industry is Part VIII, on online accommodation platforms. It would define an accommodation booking platform as a digital platform that lets people list accommodation for letting and introduces tourists or local residents to those hosts for a fee or commission, and would require both the platform host and the individual hosts to register and be licensed with the Authority. Anyone already operating such a facility would have 90 days from commencement to regularise. "Family type accommodation" is defined down to the detail — up to eight bedrooms for at most eight guests, at least one bathroom, toilet, kitchen and dining room, separate administrative space, and ventilation satisfactory to the Chief Health Officer — with a parallel definition for dormitory type accommodation.

Designated tourist facilities would have to be registered and graded before operating, with registers kept by the Authority, certificates issued by the chief executive officer, an annual published list of registered facilities and their grades, notification before alterations, cancellation for non-compliance and a regrading process. Owners, operators and those providing services to a designated facility would need a licence, issued by licensing officers, and operators would have to keep a register of clients producible on demand to a designated officer, police officer or immigration officer.

Enforcement would combine criminal and civil routes. Designated officers and licensing officers could enter premises whenever reasonably necessary to maintain standards, secrecy would be imposed on information acquired in the course of duty except where the law or a court requires disclosure, and a Third Schedule would give the Authority power to issue civil penalty orders. A defaulter who does not pay or comply within 90 days would commit an offence carrying a fine up to level 6 or a year's imprisonment — and for a corporate defaulter, every officer would be liable to the imprisonment and to the fine if the company does not pay. Civil penalties would form part of the Authority's funds, recoverable as a debt in the magistrates court regardless of its usual jurisdiction.

The Minister could make regulations imposing levies on tourist facilities, all of which would be paid into the Zimbabwe Tourism Fund, and the Authority could require statistics on tourists, excursionists and facilities. Tourism policies, programmes and projects would have to incorporate sustainable development principles, and gender equality, disability inclusion and indigenous rights would be mainstreamed.

Savings would preserve regulations, by-laws and notices under the old Act, existing licences and permits for the remainder of their validity, and serving board members and staff for the remainder of their terms.