Harare - Zimbabwe's central bank governor John Mangudya has reportedly criticised the country's top hotels and safaris, saying they were "filthy" as some of them "don't even change linens with bed-sheets often smelling of cigarette smoke".
According to New Zimbabwe.com, Mangudya claimed that the country's hospitality industry standards had fallen significantly and were negatively impacting the country’s tourism sector.
He called on the local hospitality sector to improve its falling standards as he announced a $15m tourism development facility put together by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.
"You need to improve your hotels and safaris. I won’t say which hotels, but the beds are old, the sheets are old; I think they have not been changed because they are smelling too much cigarettes," Mangudya was quoted as saying.
Mangudya said that the industry could become one of the country’s economic drivers if it improved its standards.
Reports in 2016 said that the country’s tourism sector brought in at least $890m after receiving 2.1 million visitors.
According to The Source, nearly 40% of tourists who were interviewed at the time said that they were not happy because the services offered in the country were overpriced.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa who was at the time a vice president said that the "exorbitant amounts were scaring away tourists".
Mnangagwa said that the high police presence on the roads was also "frustrating the tourists".