Tourism Act [Chapter 14:20]

Chapter 14:20

Tourism Act

Act 15/95, 22/2001 (s. 4), 23/2004 (s. 282), 3/2009.

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I

PRELIMINARY Section

1. Short title and date of commencement.

PART II

ZIMBABWETOURISM AUTHORITY

3. Establishment of Zimbabwe Tourism Authority.
4. Board of Authority.
5. Functions of Authority.
6. Qualifications for appointment as member.
7. Terms and conditions of office of appointed members.
8. Vacation of office by members.
9. Minister may require appointed member to vacate his office or may suspend him.
10. Filling of vacancies on Board.
11. Meetings and procedure of Board.
12. Committees of Board.
13. Remuneration and allowances of members of Board and committees.
14. Members of Board and committees to declare connection with companies and firms dealing with Authority.
15. Minutes of proceedings of Board and committees.
16. Validity of decisions and acts of Board and committees.
17. Appointment and functions of Chief Executive of Authority.
18. Execution of contracts and instruments by Authority.
19. Reports of Authority.
20. Minister may give Board directions on matters of policy.

PART III

FINANCIALPROVISIONS RELATING TO AUTHORITY

21. Annual programmes and budgets of Authority.
22. Grants to Authority from Zimbabwe Tourism Fund.
23. Funds of Authority.
24. Investment of moneys not immediately required by Authority.
25. Authority to make certain charges to revenue account.
26. Accounts of Authority.
27. Audit of Authority’s accounts.
28. Powers of auditors.

PART IV

ZIMBABWETOURISMFUND

29. Establishment and object of Zimbabwe Tourism Fund.
30. Composition of Zimbabwe Tourism Fund.
31. Administration of Zimbabwe Tourism Fund.
32. Application of Zimbabwe Tourism Fund.
33. Financial year of Zimbabwe Tourism Fund.
34. Books of account and audit of Zimbabwe Tourism Fund.

PART V

DESIGNATED TOURIST FACILITIES

35. Designation of tourist facilities.

PART VI

REGISTRATION AND GRADING OFDESIGNATED TOURIST ACT

36. Designated tourist facilities to be registered and graded.
37. Authority to establish and keep appropriate registers.
38. Applications for registration and grading of designate tourist facilities.
39. Registration and grading of designated tourist facilities.
40. Certificates of registration or grade of designated tourist facilities.
41. Publication of list of registered tourist facilities.
42. Notification of alterations to registered tourist facilities.
43. Cancellation of registration of designated tourist facilities.
44. Regarding of designated tourist facilities.

PART VII

LICENSINGOFOWNERSAND OPERATORSOF DESIGNATEDTOURIST FACILITIES AND OTHER PERSONS

45. Persons required to be licensed.
46. Licensing officers.
47. Applications for licences.
48. Form and duration of licences.
49. Cancellation of licences.

PART VIII

GENERAL

50. Certain designated tourist facilities to keep register of clients.
52. Designated officers.
53. Powers of Chief Executive, licensing officer and designated officers.
54. Secrecy to be observed.
56. Authority may require statistics and information.
58. Offences and penalties.
59. Summary judgment for unpaid levies in criminal proceedings.
60. Registers and certificates to be evidence.
61. Special provisions relating to dissolution of Zimbabwe Tourist Development Corporation.

SCHEDULES

First Schedule: Powers of Authority.

Second Schedule: Dissolution of Zimbabwe Tourist Development Corporation.

AN ACT to establish a Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and to provide for its functions; to provide for the appointment and functions of a board of the Authority; to establish a Zimbabwe Tourism Fund; to provide for the appointment of a Chief Executive of the Authority, licensing officers and other officers; to provide for the designation, registration and grading of tourist facilities and for the licensing of persons who provide services connected with tourism; to provide for the imposition and collection of levies in respect of designated tourist facilities; and to provide for matters connected with or incidental to the foregoing.

[Date of commencement: 1st January, 1996.]

PART I

PRELIMINARY

1    Short title

This Act may be cited as the Tourism Act [Chapter 14:20].

                   2    Interpretation

In this Act—

“appointed member” means a member of the Board other than the Chief Executive;

“Authority” means the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority established by section three;

“Board” means the Board of the Authority constituted in terms of section four;

“certificate of registration” means a certificate of registration issued in terms of this Act;

“Chief Executive” means the Chief Executive of the Authority appointed under section seventeen;

“committee” means a committee of the Board;

“designated officer” means a person designated as such in terms of subsection (1) of section fifty-two;

“designated tourist facility” means any service, premises, place or thing which the Minister has declared to be a designated tourist facility in terms of section thirty-five;

“domestic excursionist or tourist” means a person whose usual place of residence is in Zimbabwe and who visits or travels to any part of Zimbabwe for the purpose of tourism or an excursion;

“excursionist” means a visitor who does not spend one or more nights in Zimbabwe;

“financial year” means the Financial year of the Zimbabwe Tourism Fund in terms of section thirty-three; “graded” means graded in terms of this Act;

“levy” means a levy prescribed in terms of section fifty-five and includes any surcharge prescribed in terms of that section;

“licence” means a licence issued in terms of this Act;

“licensing officer” means a licensing officer referred to in subsection (1) of section forty-six;

“member” means a member of the Board, including the chairman and deputy chairman of the Board;

“Minister” means the Minister of Environment and Tourism or any other Minister to whom the President may, from time to time, assign the administration of this Act;

“operator”, in relation to a tourist facility, means any person who conducts or operates the tourist facility or who is responsible for its management;

“registered” means registered in terms of this Act;

“registered tourist facility” means a designated tourist facility which has been registered;

“tourist” means a visitor who spends at least one night in Zimbabwe and whose journey is for any one or more of the following purposes—

• a holiday;
• recreation;
• health;
• study;
• religion; (f) sport;
• business;
• a meeting;
• visiting friends or relatives;
• work that is not remunerated from within Zimbabwe;

“tourist industry” includes all businesses, enterprises and activities which provide tourist facilities, including any such businesses, enterprises and activities carried on by the State, a statutory body or a local authority;

“visitor” means any person whose usual place of residence is outside Zimbabwe and who visits Zimbabwe for a period not exceeding one year for any reason other than immigration or employment remunerated from within Zimbabwe;

“Zimbabwe Tourism Fund” means the Zimbabwe Tourism Fund established by subsection (1) of section twenty-nine.

PART II

ZIMBABWETOURISM AUTHORITY

                   3    Establishment of Zimbabwe Tourism Authority

There is hereby established an authority, to be known as the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, which shall be a body corporate capable of suing and being sued in its own name and, subject to this Act, of performing all acts that bodies corporate may by law perform.

                   4    Board of Authority

(1) Subject to this Act, the operations of the Authority shall be controlled by a board consisting of— (a) a chairman and deputy chairman appointed by the Minister in accordance with this Part; and

• the Chief Executive; and
• not fewer than six and not more than eight other members appointed by the Minister in accordance with this Part.
• The Minister shall appoint members in terms of paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) after consultation with the President and subject to such directions as the President may give him.
• Members shall be appointed for their knowledge of and ability and experience in the tourist industry or for their suitability otherwise for appointment as members.

                   5    Functions of Authority

(1) Subject to this Act, the functions of the Authority shall be—

• to promote Zimbabwe as a destination for tourists, and to promote the tourist industry in overseas, regional and domestic markets;
• to develop marketing skills and initiatives within the tourist industry;
• to promote high standards in the tourist industry through the establishment of standards, training and human resource development;
• to register and grade designated tourist facilities;
• to promote the development of tourist facilities;

{f) to undertake planning for the tourist industry, including the conduct of market research and the development of a tourism database;

• to promote awareness in Zimbabwe of the benefits of tourism;
• to provide consultancy and advisory services in relation to tourism;
• to investigate and make recommendations to the Minister on any matter affecting the tourist industry and the administration of this Act;
• on its own initiative or at the request of the Minister, to carry out any function that may be conferred or imposed on the Authority by or under this Act or any other enactment.
• For the better exercise of its functions the Authority shall have power, subject to this Act, to do or cause to be done, either by itself or through its agents, all or any of the things specified in the First Schedule, either absolutely or conditionally and either solely or jointly with others.
• In the performance of the Authority’s functions, the Board shall have regard to the environmental, social and physical impact to any activity or undertaking referred to in subsection (1) or in the First Schedule.

                   6    Qualifications for appointment as member

• Subject to this section, a person shall be qualified for appointment as member if he is a citizen of Zimbabwe or ordinarily resident in Zimbabwe.
• The Minister shall not appoint a person as a member, and no person shall be qualified to hold office as a member if—
• in terms of a law in force in any country—
  • he has been adjudged or otherwise declared insolvent or bankrupt and has not been rehabilitated or discharged; or
  • he has made an assignment to, or arrangement or composition with, his creditors which has not been rescinded or set aside;

or

• within the period of five years immediately preceding the date of his proposed appointment, he has been convicted in Zimbabwe or in any other country of an offence involving fraud or dishonesty and sentenced to a term of imprisonment imposed without the option of a fine, whether or not any portion of the sentence has been suspended.

(3) A member of Parliament shall not be qualified for appointment as a member, nor shall he hold office as a member.