eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has engaged the Immigration Department as part of efforts to promote accessible tourism for all.
The Immigration Department is at the starting and finishing point of international tourism as all tourists and visitors pass through immigration first when they come into the country and pass through immigration last when they leave the country.
ZTA chief executive officer, Winnie Muchanyuka, and her team’s critical stopover at the Immigration Department ties into the authority’s ongoing whirlwind collaborative process of engaging tourism stakeholders, agencies, tour-operators and end-users to improve service delivery and refine the tourism product.
ZTA quoted Muchanyuka speaking after last week’s meeting with the Immigration Department chief director Respect Gono, saying it was vital that the tourism authority and the Immigration Department work in unison to enable Zimbabwe to compete favourably against its competitors.
“A successful tourism product requires effective partnerships and cooperation across many sectors at the national, regional and international levels.
“For us to refine our tourism product we need to move in unison with critical stakeholders and the Immigration Department is one such stakeholder,” she said.
“Among a wide range of issues that we deliberated on was the matter of accelerating our Service Excellence training programmes for staff at Ports of Entry focusing on Beitbridge Border Post, Victoria Falls International Airport, Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport.”
The Immigration Department welcomed the meeting which came as the tourism sector is seeking to rediscover its buoyant trend whose generated revenues play a pivotal role in the overall development of the economy.
“We are happy to be collaborating with ZTA to ensure we deliver the best service.
“Beitbridge Border Post is now a world class state and we want to replicate that across the country but we can’t do it alone. It starts with such engagements. I am very excited to be putting this in motion with the people responsible with the branding of the country,” said Gono.
