Zimbabwe aims to tap more Chinese tourism potential

Zimbabwe's Minister of Environment and Tourism, Francis Nhema said on Monday the country was positioning itself to tap more tourists from China to benefit from the growing numbers of affluent Chinese taking holidays abroad.

China granted Zimbabwe the Approved Destination Status (ADS) tourism green-light in 2004, and since then the southern African country has experienced an avalanche of Chinese visitors.

For instance, in the first year of ADS, the flow of Chinese tourists to Zimbabwe increased by 217 percent to 25,974, and the figures have kept rising almost every year since, Nhema told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Monday.

The growing business, which Nhema said the government was anxious both to retain and expand, prompted Air Zimbabwe, the national air carrier, to start weekly flights to Beijing and other Asian destinations.

"It (ADS) has worked very well for Zimbabwe. We have seen an increase in Chinese tourists and this has been very beneficial to the local tourism industry," he said. "We are looking at ways and means to expand the cooperation we have with China in the area of tourism," he added.

Nhema said among ways the Zimbabwean government was working to win more Chinese tourists was the posting of a tourism attachee to the country's embassy in Beijing, and the invitation of Chinese tour operators to local travel and tourism expos.

"We have also done some tourism documentaries which are being shown in China to promote Zimbabwe among potential tourists," he said.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), on its part, said it expected an increase in Chinese tourists this year, with a 32 percent rise already registered in the first half.

It attributes the growing flow of Chinese tourists to government focus on Asia in political and economic cooperation, dubbed the 'Look East' policy. Greater advertising and promotion, ZTA said, had also played a major role.

Zimbabwe's intention to grab a bigger Chinese tourist market is well grounded. The Asian country ranks among the world's tourism powers, ranked by the World Tourism Organization as the world's 12th largest source of tourists. And in Chinese terms, this is hundreds of millions of people.

Three decades of economic reforms have created a large pool of new Chinese wealthy able to finance a holiday abroad, and it is this market Nhema said Zimbabwe was eager to tap.

At home, some tourism operators have trained staff to speak Chinese, and to offer Chinese food, two things that were a missing link in the chain, he said.

"We are extremely happy with the results of our work in promoting Zimbabwe in the Chinese market. I think much more pleasing results are ahead," he added.

Source: Xinhua