Zimbabwe’s Masuwe Tourism City Could Transform Victoria Falls Travel With Longer Stays, MICE and New Experiences

With the Masuwe development, Zimbabwe seeks to diversify its tourism offering at Victoria Falls beyond the current short-stay waterfall visit. Located some 10 km from the city, the development includes hotel and conference facilities, as well as sports, medical and other tourism facilities. The focus on Masuwe development is to encourage visitors to stay longer. This is one of Zimbabwe’s strategies to internationalize the Victoria Falls region and develop it as a hub for business tourism, as well as leisure and stopover tourism. This will create opportunities to utilize the regional air transport, as well as other wildlife attractions outside of the region.

Quick Summary

• Masuwe Tourism City could encourage longer stays in Victoria Falls through hotels, MICE, sport and new visitor experiences.
• Victoria Falls International Airport provides important aviation infrastructure to support Zimbabwe’s tourism expansion and international connectivity.
• The development aims to broaden Victoria Falls tourism beyond the waterfall while balancing investment with the surrounding wildlife landscape.

Masuwe Could Change How Travellers Experience Victoria Falls

For generations, Victoria Falls has been built around one extraordinary natural attraction. The waterfall remains the destination’s international calling card, but Zimbabwe is working to broaden what travellers can do before and after seeing it.

The Masuwe Tourism City concept could play an important role in that shift. The state-backed Mosi Oa Tunya Development Company says its proposed integrated tourism resort is within the wider Masuwe area, which covers roughly 1,200 hectares.

Mosi Oa Tunya Development Company owns 271.5 hectares at Lot 1 of Jafuta Estate. Its plans include hotels, villas, holiday homes, sports facilities, a golf estate, conference facilities, a hotel school, medical tourism facilities, a civic centre and commercial development.

That mix is significant for tourism. Instead of simply adding accommodation, Masuwe is being designed around activities and services that could give travellers more reasons to remain in the Victoria Falls area.

Zimbabwe Is Explicitly Targeting Longer Visitor Stays

The longer-stay strategy is not simply an interpretation of the project.

In August 2025, Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry said discussions on strategic tourism infrastructure investment included hotels, restaurants and a convention centre intended to increase visitor length of stay. Masuwe was highlighted for accommodation, medical, sport and MICE tourism.

That creates a different tourism model.

A visitor could potentially combine the waterfall and wildlife experiences with conferences, sport, wellness, dining and other activities. Meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, or MICE, are particularly important because they can generate travel outside traditional leisure peaks.

Zimbabwe’s Tourism and Hospitality Industry Policy 2025–2030 also places sustainable tourism, investment and destination competitiveness at the centre of national tourism development.

Masuwe Has Moved Through Important Planning Stages

Masuwe is not a completely new idea.

Mosi Oa Tunya Development Company was established in 2012. Its original role was connected to development of conference infrastructure for the UNWTO General Assembly, while its mandate was expanded in 2020 to cover tourism infrastructure development in Victoria Falls.

Several subsequent milestones show how the project has progressed.

Source: Mosi Oa Tunya Development Company.

The infrastructure is critical. Hotels, convention venues and residential or leisure developments cannot function at scale without dependable water, transport and supporting urban services.

Rising Tourism Demand Strengthens the Case

Zimbabwe’s national tourism figures provide useful context for the development.

The Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) recorded 496,668 tourist arrivals nationwide during the third quarter of 2025. That was up from 450,922 during the same quarter of 2024, representing 10.1% year-on-year growth.

Source: ZIMSTAT.

These are national figures rather than Victoria Falls-only arrivals, so they should not be interpreted as direct demand for Masuwe. They nevertheless show that Zimbabwe entered the development period with growing international tourism volumes.

Victoria Falls Airport Gives Masuwe an Aviation Advantage

Longer stays will matter only if travellers can reach the destination conveniently. This makes Victoria Falls International Airport central to the Masuwe story.

Airports Company of Zimbabwe says the airport has a 4,000-metre runway capable of handling wide-body aircraft. Its international and domestic terminals have combined capacity for approximately 1.5 million passengers a year.

ZIMSTAT, using Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe data, recorded 107,500 passengers at Victoria Falls International Airport during the first quarter of 2025. That compared with 139,652 in the fourth quarter of 2024, illustrating the seasonal variation that tourism infrastructure must accommodate.

Masuwe’s MICE ambitions could become important in this context. Conferences and corporate events can help destinations generate demand at different times of the year rather than relying entirely on traditional leisure seasons.

MICE Tourism Could Become a Second Anchor

Zimbabwe is actively positioning itself for MICE tourism.

The Tourism Ministry describes the country as developing its position as a meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions destination, supported by conference venues, hotels and travel infrastructure.

Masuwe fits directly into that policy.

Conference facilities, hotels and a hotel school are among the components identified by its developer. If delivered as planned, this could broaden Victoria Falls’ role from an iconic leisure destination into a location serving both holidaymakers and international business events.

That would also create demand beyond hotel rooms. Event organisers require transport companies, caterers, guides, technology providers, restaurants, entertainment businesses and skilled hospitality workers.

Tourism Expansion Comes With an Environmental Responsibility

The project’s location makes sustainability particularly important.

Mosi Oa Tunya Development Company says the wider Masuwe area falls within the Wildlife Dispersal Area of the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, or KAZA. The organisation says development is intended to blend with the natural environment and existing ecotourism activities.

KAZA spans Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and Angola. Victoria Falls therefore sits within a much larger cross-border wildlife and tourism landscape.

The environmental setting means expansion cannot be judged only by the number of new hotels or visitors. How infrastructure interacts with wildlife movement, water resources and the landscape will remain central to the destination’s long-term tourism value.

Masuwe Could Encourage Multi-Experience Holidays

For international travellers, the biggest change could be the range of experiences available around one base.

Victoria Falls already provides access to waterfall sightseeing, adventure activities, national parks and regional wildlife experiences. The planned Masuwe mix adds another layer through sport, conferences, hospitality, medical tourism and leisure facilities.

Zimbabwe and Zambia also operate the KAZA Univisa for eligible travellers. Zimbabwe’s Tourism Ministry says the visa allows access to both countries for up to 30 days and permits day trips to Botswana’s Chobe National Park through Kazungula.

That gives Victoria Falls a geographic advantage. Longer stays do not have to mean remaining inside one resort; they can form part of wider regional itineraries.

What Masuwe Could Mean for Hotels and Local Tourism Businesses

The project could broaden opportunities across the visitor economy if its planned components are delivered.

Potential beneficiaries include:

• Hotels and accommodation providers serving leisure and business visitors.
• Tour operators creating longer Victoria Falls and regional itineraries.
• Airlines and airport businesses serving international and regional demand.
• Restaurants and hospitality companies benefiting from longer stays.
• Event organisers targeting conferences, exhibitions and incentive groups.
• Local businesses and workers supplying tourism and hospitality services.

The hotel school proposed within the development is also notable. Expanding accommodation and MICE capacity requires trained staff, making hospitality skills part of the infrastructure story rather than a separate issue.

Travellers Should Watch What Opens Rather Than What Is Planned

Visitors should distinguish between the approved development framework and facilities that are already operational.

Mosi Oa Tunya Development Company’s official material confirms planning and infrastructure milestones, but many of the tourism components remain proposed developments. Travellers should therefore not assume that hotels, golf, medical tourism or conference facilities described in the masterplan are already available.

The same caution applies to the widely circulated US$1.2 billion valuation for the broader project. That figure has appeared in current reporting and social-media discussion, but it has not been used here because I could not confirm it from the primary official project sources reviewed for this article.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the Masuwe tourism development?

Masuwe is approximately 10 kilometres from Victoria Falls city, along the Bulawayo–Victoria Falls road. The wider Masuwe Special Economic Zone covers roughly 1,200 hectares, according to Mosi Oa Tunya Development Company.

Can tourists already stay at the planned Masuwe Tourism City?

Travellers should not treat the complete masterplan as an operational resort. Official project information confirms infrastructure and planning progress, while hotels, villas, conference facilities and several other components are presented as proposed developments.

Can international visitors combine Victoria Falls with Zambia and Botswana?

Eligible travellers can use the KAZA Univisa for Zimbabwe and Zambia, including permitted day trips to Botswana’s Chobe National Park through Kazungula. Travellers should check current eligibility, visa fees and entry requirements with official immigration authorities before departure.

Conclusion

Masuwe is important because Zimbabwe is attempting to restructure Victoria Falls region’s tourism economy, and not attempting to hide the real nature of Victoria Falls. This is because Zimbabwe is likely to achieve better results if she focuses on areas which she has a genuine competitive advantage, as opposed to trying to impersonate what she does not have. In this regard, the Zimbabwean government has a good strategy, which suggests Masuwe could make Victoria Falls a better tourism hub.