By BRIAN HATYOKA in Harare –
SOUTHERN African Development Community (SADC) member States have been urged to complement each other to attract more tourist arrivals to the region.
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said a modern tourist wanted to visit more than one destination or one specific country and hence it was important that countries in the SADC complemented each other by jointly promoting their tourism products.
Mr Kaseke noted that the regional body had not attracted many tourists over the last years because each country wanted to outdo the other in terms of attracting tourists.
He was speaking in Harare at The Rainbow Towers Hotel on Wednesday night during a dinner hosted for delegates attending the Sanganai/Hlanganani World Travel and Tourism Africa Fair.
The event, which is being attended by Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) and Zambian tour operators, has attracted more than 200 tourism buyers and exhibitors as well as international journalists in Africa and across the globe.
There was no need for SADC countries to compete against each other in the area of tourism if they wanted to tourists to visit the region.
“We must always emphasise on cooperation and put our resources together so that we attract more tourists than what we are currently attracting through competition as individual countries.
“There should be no room for competition among SADC countries because a modern tourist wants to visit Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana and even South Africa before going back to his or her country,” Mr Kaseke said.
Countries in the East African region were attracting many tourists because they were working as a single front.
Mr Kaseke also said it was wrong to condemn countries which were marketing Victoria Falls besides Zambia and Zimbabwe as those countries were merely helping the two host countries to receive more tourists.
“My view is that these countries are doing a wonderful job and they should keep it up because Victoria Falls is for everyone and it is a gift from God.  South Africa or Botswana or Namibia should even do more to market Victoria Falls because Zambia or Zimbabwe will benefit when tourists visit the Falls,” Mr Kaseke said.
He also said Zambia and Zimbabwe were expected to launch the uniform visa (Univisa) next month at the World Travel Market (WTM) in London next month to attract more tourists to the two nations.
“We want to give an example to other countries in SADC that it is possible for nations to work together.