UNWTO assembly begins in Vic Falls

THE 20th session of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general assembly explodes into life in Victoria Falls today and by yesterday more than 1 000 delegates had arrived in the country for the mega event.

Also yesterday UNWTO secretary-general Mr Taleb Rifai who arrived in the country on Thursday and outgoing Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Engineer Walter Mzembi were accredited.

Business in the resort town was also brought to a halt as tour and adventure operators and other stakeholders like Environment Africa passed through the streets for the Street Parade held to welcome the world to the resort town.

There was traffic congestion with motorists forced to make way for vehicles, residents and players in the tourism sector who made their way from the Rainforest entry point to Chinotimba Stadium.

At the same time, the Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Lin Lin, handed over state-of-the-art sound equipment for use during the general assembly. In his remarks, Mr Lin said he was happy to see that Zimbabwe held the harmonised elections in a very peaceful manner, a development he said would pave way for further cooperation between the two countries.

"I want to assure you that the Chinese investors, enterprises and communities will continue to make their due contributions to Zimbabwe's economic recovery and social development.

"China and Zimbabwe are all weather friends," he said.
Mr Lin said the general assembly was a perfect chance for Zimbabwe to revive its tourism sector and boost the economy as a whole.

"The Zimbabwean Government and its people have been making tremendous efforts to make the coming event a great success.

"I am proud that China as a sincere friend and trustworthy partner of Zimbabwe could join you in this endeavour by donating this state-of-the-art equipment to be used for the 20th UNWTO general assembly jointly held by Zimbabwe and Zambia," he said.

Receiving the equipment, Eng Mzembi said the preferred destination agreement between Zimbabwe and China signed in 2002 should be activated for an increased arrival of Chinese people in the country.

"China has become the leading spender in the world and in 2012, they spent $1,24 billion and as Zimbabwe we ask for only 10 percent of that. We must activate the preferred destination agreement between our two countries and also pursue other agreements for the development of tourism," said Eng Mzembi.

He said Zimbabwe was grateful to the Chinese government for its continued support.
"The Victoria Falls International Airport is undergoing an expansion programme thanks to the Chinese," said Eng Mzembi.

As of yesterday, more than 150 out of the 186 countries had confirmed attending the general assembly.
The figure according to statistics is the highest of countries to attend the event in the history of the general assembly.

This is the first time that the assembly is being held in Southern Africa and second ever that it is being held in Africa after Senegal hosted it in 2007.

The event is regarded as a generational result and Zimbabwe and Zambia might never host in the next 360 years given that the general assembly is a bi-annual event held on equal rotational basis among member states.

The co-hosting of the week-long general assembly by Zimbabwe and Zambia has been described not only as a success for the two countries, but for the continent at large and the world in general.

President Mugabe and his Zambian counterpart Mr Michael Sata are expected to officially open the event tomorrow.

The session runs until Thursday in Victoria Falls and Livingstone.