Zimbabwe is opening popular
tourism destination Victoria Falls to visitors who have been vaccinated against
Covid-19, in a move welcomed by the country’s suffering tourism industry.
Information minister Monica Mutsvangwa told reporters that the government had
resolved to lift a lid on Victoria Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world
and the country’s top tourism destination.
“[The] Cabinet acceded to a
request by the tourism industry to open the Victoria Falls and Kazungula Border
posts to tourists who are fully vaccinated,” Mutsvangwa said.
“This is in view of the
realization that over 60% of the population in Victoria Falls has been
vaccinated.
“The lockdown measures,
however, are being enforced throughout the country in order to curtail a surge
under the third wave of Covid-19.
Godfrey Koti, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, said the pandemic had brought the tourism industry worldwide to its knees.
He said it was time for
Zimbabwe to begin the long climb back with the opening up of Victoria Falls,
within the confines and guidelines of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“And from a regional perspective, the tourism traffic will grow and this
will send a very strong message to our source markets. This is a definite way
of showing, of a benefit being shown from [the] government’s drive of
vaccinating the entire city of Victoria Falls and subsequently Victoria Falls
reaching herd immunity.
“So, we are very excited to
see this happening and it can only show that we are definitely moving in the
right direction,” Koti said.
About 1.5 million Zimbabweans out of a population of 14 million have received
their first vaccination shot, and nearly 695,000 have received their second
inoculation.
Clement Mukwasi, a spokesman
for Shearwater, one of the tourism operators in Victoria Falls, sounded an
optimistic tone.
“It is the industry’s hope that towards the end of the pandemic – which we
think we are in – there shall be some credit lines extended to the industry for
the industry to recover,” he said.
“ We applaud the government
for taking our call to open the borders of Zambia and Botswana because Victoria
Falls has reached its herd immunity.
“We are hoping that in addition to opening the borders, they are also going to set up a policy on how people should flow across all three countries.”
Mukwasi said those who are vaccinated should be allowed to move across the country without any problem, while those who are not vaccinated should produce results showing they have tested negative for the coronavirus, which causes the Covid-19.
Zimbabwe currently has 101,711 confirmed coronavirus infections and 3,280 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the global outbreak.
The government says the vaccination program will intensify after the arrival of more doses from China in the coming days.
The number of cases has been
rising, as the delta variant becomes more widespread. – VOA
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