by DANAI MWARUMBWA
HARARE – THE Waterfalls Lodge is officially open at Zimbabwe’s prime tourism resort city, Victoria Falls.
The 60-room property is developed by Wild Horizons, part of the Tourvest Group.
It is the first hotel-style property built by Wild Horizons and moves away from fully inclusive safari lodges and responds to changing travel trends with a flexible, bed-and-breakfast format.
The lodge was constructed within a hotel-zoned area and includes adjacent greenbelt restoration.
Its opening has already resulted in more than 70 direct local jobs, with further employment being created through contracted services, shuttle transfers and community-linked supply chains.
“We are very excited about the opening of this new property, it is significant for a number of reasons,” said Gary Archer, Chief Executive Officer of Wild Horizons.
“It’s the first hotel-style build for Wild Horizons in the region, and marks a change in hospitality strategy for Tourvest,” he added.
“We’ve designed Waterfalls Lodge to support longer guest-stays, provide stable jobs, and support meaningful integration into the local tourism economy. We believe tourism should be locally rooted, operationally strong and responsive to how people are choosing to travel,” Archer said.
Tourism forms part of the economic backbone of Victoria Falls.
Often referred to as the leading tourism revenue generator, it played no small role in the estimated Zimbabwe tourism receipts of nearly $1,5 billion in 2024.
– CAJ News
