By Alois Vinga

THE incoming Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive officer, Winnie Muchanyuka is set to host a media encounter this Wednesday afternoon where she is expected to outline her game plan.

The latest development was confirmed by Muchanyuka in a LinkedIn post ending months of speculation on the selected candidate for the country’s top job in the tourism industry.

“I am happy to share that I am starting a new position as new chief executive officer at the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority,” she said.

She takes over from ZTA Chief Operating Officer Givemore Chidzidzi who has been in acting capacity since 2019.

Highly placed sources within ZTA revealed that she emerged the candidate out of a total  41 aspiring applicants who were vying for the top post and flies in the face of  the Government’s National Tourism Recovery and Growth Strategy blueprint which aims to tap into the US$5 billion tourism industry potential.

A holder of a Master of Science Degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management, Muchanyuka has won various accolades from the Aviation Industry in the last decades.

She also holds a Master in Business Administration from the University of Gloucestershire and is currently working on PhD in Tourism with the University of Pretoria and has also emerged as one of the few trailblazing and goal oriented female executives who have left an indelible mark on the aviation world.

She attended school in Chinhoyi and her first role in the aviation industry was in the reservations call centre and later the Harare city ticket office.

She moved to Swissair where she worked as a sales representative for seven years before moving to South African Airways in 2000, rising to country head for Zimbabwe from a sales executive position.