THE government is set to relax visa restrictions for tourist from China and improve flight connectivity between to the two countries in a move aimed at boosting visits, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has said.
Gamma Mudarikiri Own Correspondent
In a statement, ZTA said the country hoped to attract not less than 50 000 tourists from China by 2015, expected to be achieved through the relaxation of visa restrictions and improvement of flight connectivity between the two countries.
“Zimbabwe is planning to attract China by relaxing its visa restrictions for tourists and increasing the flight connectivity between the two nations,” part of the statement reads.
China remains one of the Zimbabwe’s growing tourist markets with the first quarter of the year alone recording 165% increase in visits to 3 714, as business relations between the two countries continue to strengthen.
The Asian country also remains one of the biggest investors in Zimbabwe with approved investment of over $100 million recorded in the first five months of this year.
This constituted 75% of all foreign direct investments in the country during the period.
ZTA said it is planning to grant China tourists a Category A (visa free) status and an e-VISA platform.
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Negotiations between the tourism authority and both governments are still going and Zimbabwe is expected to shorten the visa application process to only three working days.
The visa application process in Zimbabwe has been criticised for being slow in some instances taking as long as a month to complete.
As part of plans to boost tourist arrivals from China, ZTA said it was also planning to launch a private airline by end of August this year which will fly to Guangzhou province in China three times a week via Singapore.
Zimbabwe last year recorded a drop in tourist arrivals partly attributed to the defunct national airline which is rearing from a $100 million debt weighing down operations.
On two incidents the airline’s flagship Boeing 767 aircraft was impounded in 2011 at the United Kingdom’s Heathrow International Airport and at South Africa’s OR Tambo International Airport over non-payment of debt, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded and as a result tarnishing the country tourism image.
ZTA’s new airline is expected to attract the Asian tourist market. Chinese tourists to Zimbabwe alongside other tourists from Japan and the West, made up less than 10% of 1,8 million tourist arrivals to the country last year.
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