05/13/08, 11:34:39 UTC

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Zimbabwe: Safe Tourist Destination

allafrica.com

ZIMBABWE is a safe destination despite negative media reports spearheaded by the West that the country is unstable, Japanese Association of Travel Agents chairman Dr Toru Furusawu has said.
He was addressing journalists soon after his arrival in the resort town of Victoria Falls last week.

Dr Furusawu is leading an 11-member delegation of Japanese travel agents seeking to promote southern African tourism, particularly Zimbabwe, ahead of the 2010 soccer extravaganza to be held in South Africa.

"Zimbabwe is a safe tourist destination although the media depict it as an unsafe country. The hotels are beautiful and it's not as portrayed by the media," Dr Furusawu. He said the main purpose of the visit was to explore ways of promoting and boosting tourism in southern Africa, but with the main focus on Zimbabwe.

"The main purpose of our visit is to promote tourism in southern Africa and Zimbabwe specifically, which has the Victoria Falls, which is a key tourist attraction in the region," Dr Furusawu said.

He said the region should take advantage of the more than 17 million Japanese tourists who travel abroad annually. South African Airways manager for Japan Mr Onoda Yukuta, who was part of the delegation, also implored the countries in southern Africa to fully take advantage of the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

"Countries in the region have to take advantage of the 2010 World Cup to boost and promote regional tourism to transform the region," Mr Yukuta said.

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority marketing and communications director Mr Givemore Chidzidzi said Japan was targeting Africa as a tourist destination and the visit by the Japanese agents was to come up with packages for tourists in their country. He added that already tourist arrivals from Japan had increased by 20 percent from 2005 and the country was projecting a further increase.

 Printable Version  | published Nov 27, 2007