Zimbabwe: 'Zim is Safe for Tourists'

Source from:  The Herald (Harare) November 15, 2006 11/17/2006

ZIMBABWE is by far the safest and most fascinating tourist destination in Africa but needs to be thoroughly marketed to the ordinary people to fully exploit the Chinese market, five top international tourist wholesalers here have said. In two-day marathon meetings held between the Beijing tourist wholesalers and the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority delegation, the tour operators said ordinary Chinese people know of the Victoria Falls as an add-on destination on the South African itinerary. The tour operators also said Zimbabwe must quickly develop inter-tourist destination domestic flights to ease transport problems and reduce time spent by tourists in transit from one attraction to another. The meetings are being held as a dress rehearsal for Zimbabwe's participation at the China International Tourism Mart to be held in Shanghai. The exhibition runs from tomorrow and ends on Sunday. The five wholesalers -- China Travel International, China Women Travel Service, China Ocean International Travel Service, China Travel Service and China International Travel Service -- said Zimbabwean tour operators needed to vigorously market their country to the ordinary Chinese. "Egypt and South Africa are the best known countries and our people want to go to those countries. Of course, they want to go to the Victoria Falls, which is a must, but as an add-on to the South African destination. "Our people know Victoria Falls but they spend five days in South Africa and two days at the Falls. "Tour operators know Zimbabwe not only for its Falls but also for its tobacco but the ordinary people know it for its tobacco," said Mr Liu Bin, general manager of China Ocean International Service. Mr Liu said Zimbabwe was richer in tourist attractions than South Africa, yet it was lagging behind when it came to marketing its resources. This was unfortunate, he said, as Zimbabwe was more peaceful than its crime-riddled southern neighbour. "We have experienced muggings in South Africa and our outbound tourism in that country has gone down by 13 percent in the past two years and Zimbabwe should capitalise on that," said Mr Liu, who has 10 years' experience in marketing Africa. President of the China Women Travel Services Mrs Yen Liyan said most local tourists know South Africa, Egypt and Kenya since those countries had successfully marketed their tourist products in China. "ZTA must do the same for Zimbabwe. We know Zimbabwe for its beautiful tourist attractions but our people do not know and they tell us 'I want to go to South Africa' so we end up including the Victoria Falls for them. "Everything being equal, we should fly them straight to Harare so that they spend more time in Zimbabwe. But since they know little about Zimbabwe they might not pay," she said. She added: "Zimbabwe should forge strategic links with the media in China to inform the general population of China about what the country has to offer. Without that it will be difficult for us to market Zimbabwe." Zimbabwe's tourism attache to China, Mr Takaruza Munyanyiwa, said Harare would do everything possible to capture the vibrant market in the world's fastest growing economy. "We are putting in place everything to make sure that we successfully market the country. As ZTA we have played our part and we will continue doing so. We invite other players to do the same," he said. Today, the Zimbabwean delegation of at least 25 tour operators takes its road campaign to tourist wholesalers in Shanghai, south-east China. Enditem