News / National
Mugabe wants free visa for Chinese
28 Aug 2014 at 06:50hrs | Views
President Robert Mugabe has ordered Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi to work on the modalities of a free visa regime for Asian economic giant China's nationals to boost the country's tourism.
In a telephone interview from Beijing yesterday, where he is accompanying Mugabe on a state visit, Mzembi said the president "spoke passionately to restate his principled position" to liberalise relations between the "two sister countries".
"The president wants us to work on liberalisation through an open visa regime, destination accessibility and air connectivity. That is the target, not that we will ignore other sectors, but if I can lobby and convince cabinet, as the president wants to declare 2015 a Tourism year, then we are likely to meet our growth targets as envisaged in the government's five-year development plan. The only sector that is likely to impact immediately on the people's lives with little or no investment, but just a policy shift, is tourism (sic)," said Mzembi.
According to The Zimbabwe Mail, if adopted, the move could open floodgates to over a billion people and reduce Zimbabwe's over reliance on the traditional tourism markets in Europe, while providing a massive boost for Mzembi's dream of a $5 billion tourism economy by 2020.
The Tourism minister said Zimbabwe would need to work on a new charter to define a work ethic that helps grow arrivals through a mind-set change straddling all government departments.
"We need a policy shift on how to engage the world, and you just need to look at what happened during the Jehovah's Witnesses conference when all booking space was snapped up because people have realised, following our pronouncements on religious tourism, that Zimbabwe is serious about hosting international cultural conventions," the minister said.
"His (Mugabe) stance did not start with the visit to China, but he pressed this issue during the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly last year, that of a regime of openness between the two sister states, restating his principled position consistent with his pan-African position of a United States of Africa that is open for business to all."
He said Zimbabwe would be strategically "giving focus to a service charter and pledging to remove all the negativities that hinder the growth of tourism in order to feed from the money of gentiles".
Tourist arrivals to Zimbabwe have plummeted since government sponsored the Land Reform programme meant to redress colonial land imbalances, a move that angered former colonial master Britain. The United States joined in triggering a decade and half-long diplomatic row that has only began to thaw following the conclusion of elections last year.
Mugabe is currently on a week-long visit to China seeking financial support for his government's latest economic blueprint, the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation (ZimAsset), that reportedly requires a whopping $27 billion in funding.
Mzembi said Mugabe was driving a continental agenda and his move with the Chinese was meant to grow Africa's share of the global tourism trade.
"Remember the president has just assumed leadership of the Sadc region and is the vice-chairperson of the African Union, so he speaks as a continental leader who wants to grow Africa's share of global tourism," the minister said.
"He said unless we address issues of Africa's openness and integration we are unlikely to realise the double digit target growth by 2020 and the continent would remain stagnant. At the moment, Africa accounts for a paltry 4% of global tourism and Zimbabwe has 2% of that share.
"President Mugabe spoke so passionately here about this aspect that we need to liberalise entry between ourselves to give full expression to our age-old friendship. Good friends, especially those with strong ideological foundation and values, do not close doors to each other, they keep them open and warm."
Mugabe, a week ago, was installed regional power bloc Sadc chairperson and currently serves as African Union deputy chairperson.
His government has over the last few years adopted the Look East Policy to woe Chinese investors, but negative publicity from the Western dominated global media and a spat of scare tactics hit the tourism industry, once one of the country's top foreign currency earners, badly.
This week's visit could probably signal a positive shift in relations following the signing of 12 memoranda covering almost all economic sectors, including tourism, transport, energy and information technology.
China, with an average economic growth of 7%, per capita income of $6 807 and a bludgeoning population of over 1,6 billion people, could change Zimbabwe's economic fortunes overnight, based on tourist arrivals alone.
In a telephone interview from Beijing yesterday, where he is accompanying Mugabe on a state visit, Mzembi said the president "spoke passionately to restate his principled position" to liberalise relations between the "two sister countries".
"The president wants us to work on liberalisation through an open visa regime, destination accessibility and air connectivity. That is the target, not that we will ignore other sectors, but if I can lobby and convince cabinet, as the president wants to declare 2015 a Tourism year, then we are likely to meet our growth targets as envisaged in the government's five-year development plan. The only sector that is likely to impact immediately on the people's lives with little or no investment, but just a policy shift, is tourism (sic)," said Mzembi.
According to The Zimbabwe Mail, if adopted, the move could open floodgates to over a billion people and reduce Zimbabwe's over reliance on the traditional tourism markets in Europe, while providing a massive boost for Mzembi's dream of a $5 billion tourism economy by 2020.
The Tourism minister said Zimbabwe would need to work on a new charter to define a work ethic that helps grow arrivals through a mind-set change straddling all government departments.
"We need a policy shift on how to engage the world, and you just need to look at what happened during the Jehovah's Witnesses conference when all booking space was snapped up because people have realised, following our pronouncements on religious tourism, that Zimbabwe is serious about hosting international cultural conventions," the minister said.
"His (Mugabe) stance did not start with the visit to China, but he pressed this issue during the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly last year, that of a regime of openness between the two sister states, restating his principled position consistent with his pan-African position of a United States of Africa that is open for business to all."
He said Zimbabwe would be strategically "giving focus to a service charter and pledging to remove all the negativities that hinder the growth of tourism in order to feed from the money of gentiles".
Tourist arrivals to Zimbabwe have plummeted since government sponsored the Land Reform programme meant to redress colonial land imbalances, a move that angered former colonial master Britain. The United States joined in triggering a decade and half-long diplomatic row that has only began to thaw following the conclusion of elections last year.
Mzembi said Mugabe was driving a continental agenda and his move with the Chinese was meant to grow Africa's share of the global tourism trade.
"Remember the president has just assumed leadership of the Sadc region and is the vice-chairperson of the African Union, so he speaks as a continental leader who wants to grow Africa's share of global tourism," the minister said.
"He said unless we address issues of Africa's openness and integration we are unlikely to realise the double digit target growth by 2020 and the continent would remain stagnant. At the moment, Africa accounts for a paltry 4% of global tourism and Zimbabwe has 2% of that share.
"President Mugabe spoke so passionately here about this aspect that we need to liberalise entry between ourselves to give full expression to our age-old friendship. Good friends, especially those with strong ideological foundation and values, do not close doors to each other, they keep them open and warm."
Mugabe, a week ago, was installed regional power bloc Sadc chairperson and currently serves as African Union deputy chairperson.
His government has over the last few years adopted the Look East Policy to woe Chinese investors, but negative publicity from the Western dominated global media and a spat of scare tactics hit the tourism industry, once one of the country's top foreign currency earners, badly.
This week's visit could probably signal a positive shift in relations following the signing of 12 memoranda covering almost all economic sectors, including tourism, transport, energy and information technology.
China, with an average economic growth of 7%, per capita income of $6 807 and a bludgeoning population of over 1,6 billion people, could change Zimbabwe's economic fortunes overnight, based on tourist arrivals alone.
Source - Zim Mail
