Govt takes tourism efforts to South East Asia

efforts to South East Asia last week.
Permanent Secretary in the ministry Dr Sylvester Maunganidze and his delegation last week visited Indonesia and Malaysia where they tabled draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) to foster tourism co-operation between Zimbabwe and the two countries.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia the secretary met his Malaysian counterpart, Dr Dato Ong Hong Peng, the Secretary General for Tourism in the Ministry of Tourism. Dr Peng’s delegation included Dato Khalid B. Harun, the president of the Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (MATTA), who is also current chairman of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Union Federation of Travel Agents Association (UFTAA). Malaysia, which has a population of 28 million, 40 percent of which take holidays abroad is a big potential source market for Zimbabwean tourism.
Malaysia promised to bring not less than ten tourism operators to Sanganayi, Zimbabwe’s Tourism Fair in October. However, the proposed MOU also focuses on training and capacity building programmes with Zimbabwe expecting to benefit greatly from Malaysia’s highly successful tourism. In Jakarta, Indonesia Dr Maunganidze and his delegation met with TM Hamzah Thayeb, the director for Asia Pacific and African Affairs in the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also met a number of tour operators who promised to visit Zimbabwe in October 2011 during the country’s travel show.