Mzembi to finalise visa issues with China

Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Engineer Walter Mzembi might join a delegation led by Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa to China this week to finalise outstanding visa issues with the populous Asian nation.

Mzembi said last year that Zimbabwe was targeting 2 million visitors from China, of the 200 million outbound Chinese travellers by 2020.

He said this was part of wider efforts to recapture tourists from traditional markets with a view to grow tourism into a $5 billion industry by 2020.

The tourism minister said that he anticipated increased airline traffic to Victoria Falls International Airport, which is expected to be commissioned in August, after its $150 million upgrade and expansion programme is completed.

The tourism minister said that when the airport has been commissioned, there should be marked increase in international airlines to the destination.

Mzembi said this would give his ministry bargaining power to lobby the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Infrastructural Development to conclude not just bilateral, but proper air service agreements.