Querying the Colonial Factor in Zimbabwe’s Prime Tourist Destination Toponym

Abstract

The naming of Zimbabwe’s prime tourist destinations has remained underexplored in tourism
research, despite its centrality to cultural identity and heritage representation. The majority of
these destinations, such as Victoria Falls, Kariba Dam, and Hwange National Park, bear
colonial or anglicised names that obscure indigenous meanings and histories. While a wave of
toponymic reforms during post-independence Zimbabwe (1980s–1990s) swept through
schools, roads, and government buildings, tourist destinations were largely exempted,
signalling the persistence of an "imperial hook" designed to attract traditional international
markets. This study was motivated by the need to interrogate how colonial toponyms destabilise
the cultural and traditional rubric of Zimbabwe’s tourism landscape and to question the
silences in renaming policies. Using a qualitative approach, the research examined the
cultural, historical, and political implications of naming practices in major tourist sites.
Findings reveal that colonial naming practices continue to distort heritage meanings and
weaken local ownership of tourism resources. The study promotes a decolonial approach that
prefers the use of endonyms to exonyms, thereby consolidating community identity and
fostering socio-economic development. In addressing the colonial legacy of tourism toponyms,
the research contributes to ongoing debates on decolonisation, heritage preservation, and
sustainable tourism development in Zimbabwe.