The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has completed a research on
the needs of Chinese market that it seeks to exploit, officials
said on Sunday.
ZTA Chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said the report made by
Zimbabwean researchers who were still in China would be made public
next week. The research was aimed at giving Chinese tourists what
they want when they visited the country, he said.
Zimbabwe witnessed an increase in Chinese tourist arrivals since
it adopted the Look East Policy in 2003. The authority was training
local guides to speak Chinese while some universities plan to
introduce Chinese in their curricula.
ZTA launched the probe after realizing that Zimbabwe was an
unknown destination to many Chinese tourists, Kaseke said. "We have
to work hard to market Zimbabwe as a tourist destination,"
hestressed.
He said the authority expected to receive about 2,000 Chinese
tourists every week. However, Zimbabwe's airline, Air Zimbabwe,
which has the capacity of 100 passengers, flies to China once a
week.
(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2006)
