Travel warnings hit Zimbabwe's marketing campaign

ZTA chief executive officer, Karikoga Kaseke, confirmed that 80% of hotel bookings in April alone had been cancelled after the US, the UK, Japan and South Korea issued warnings discouraging their citizens from visiting Zimbabwe due to tension and incidents of violence after the 29 March elections.

Reports suggest that at least 10 chartered flights, which were scheduled to bring tourists into the resort town of Victoria Falls, had also been cancelled due to increasing apprehension over developments in the country.

Japan's inclusion on the list of countries that have issued such warnings comes at a time the Asian country had declared 2008 the 'Visit Africa Year', and Zimbabwe was hoping to benefit immensely from Japanese tourist visits. Part of the cancellations emanated from Japan, according to ZTA sources.

Describing the travel warnings as an intensification of the “mischief of disinformation” by the UK and her allies, Kaseke said: “The negative impact caused by the current onslaught is a real concern to us.”

The ZTA has splurged millions of dollars on an international marketing drive aimed at fending off bad press created by a turbulent political and economic environment, often bringing in international artistes like American RnB star Joe Thomas as tourism ambassadors under what it terms a perception management programme.

The ZTA last month spent an undisclosed amount of money to bring in tourism agents from international markets to counter the renewed British and US travel warnings.

At least 42 buyers from the UK, Sweden, Lithuania, Russia and China, among other countries, attended the A'sambeni Travel and Tourism Expo which ran concurrently with the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) in Bulawayo.