Matabeleland North hosts China- to promote tourism and investment

THE China-Zimbabwe Exchange Centre, which hosts the Harare Forum for Africa and China Civilisation Dialogue, has taken its activities to Matabeleland North in Victoria Falls in an effort to tap into the rich cultural diversity and use it to market the country as a tourism and investment destination of choice.

China and Zimbabwe are all weather friends and inclusion of culture and culinary products widens areas of engagement.

Yesterday the China-Zimbabwe Exchange Centre had an interaction with various stakeholders including Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and tour operators as well as students from the School of Journalism and Communication at Tsinghua University which helped to coordinate the event in partnership with the Exchange Centre.

The Chinese delegation of students was led by Professor Zhao Yuezhi, who is Humanities chair at the University and also Executive Director for Heyang Institute for Rural Studies, as well as Professor Hu Yu, the director of the Institute for Culture Creativity at Tsinghua University.

The main objective of the exchange programme is economic cooperation in agriculture and rural development and the delegation visited surrounding rural communities to learn the local culture.

This comes as Government is pursuing an agenda of promoting new tourism products as culture, religion, sport and gastronomy as new attractions.

The visit to Victoria Falls was a precursor to the upcoming global competence field study course in Zimbabwe to end on Tuesday next week and is significant as it coincides with Zimbabwe’s 44th independence anniversary and the 44th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

It also aligns with increasing China-Zimbabwe cooperation and complements the recent introduction of the Global Civilization Initiative.

Zimbabwe stands to tap into China’s colour culture, Wu Opera Culture and there are opportunities to create cultural tourism through development of local cultures.

During the discussions participants reiterated the need for positive use of social media for marketing, as well as to develop functioning infrastructure that promote tourism.

Zimbabwe can learn from China’s tourism that has grown because of infrastructure, cheap cars and viable rail system.

Prof Zhao said the programme has special focus on Zimbabwe.

“This is a pre-conference and the first time we launch this event and the major event will happen in Harare on July 8. We are here because we believe this place is very important for promoting Zimbabwe among the Chinese people because of the famous Victoria Fall.

“We also believe tourism is very important for economic development for Zimbabwe. The objective is simply to promote people to people exchange between China and Zimbabwe and we started by bringing students and some of local people from one of China’s provinces to exchange ideas,” she said.

The Chinese delegation visited some communities outside Victoria Falls to experience the local culture.

Founder of China Zimbabwe Exchange Centre Mr Steve Zhao said the programme rides on cordial relations between Zimbabwe and China.

“The Harare Forum for Africa started early this year and we coordinated this in partnership with Tsingua University to bring students to talk about tourism and civilisation programmes. Today is our first forum in Victoria Falls and we invited ZTA and stakeholders. We have met with villagers and traditional leaders and I believe this is a big opportunity for China and Zimbabwe to work together for rural development and tourism sector,” he said.

Mr Clourage Tavenave also from China Zimbabwe Exchange Centre said the platform is an important opportunity for young people as it promotes job creation and educational opportunities.

He said efforts are being made to bring the forum to Victoria Falls so as to create jobs and improve tourism.

ZTA Matabeleland North regional manager Mr Daniel Mumpande said community based tourism is central to the country’s tourism strategy.

He said Victoria Falls is a unique destination with adrenalin junkies taste, as well as cultural, wildlife and community tourism attractions.

He said the destination was leveraging on digital technology to enhance tourism and build the Zimbabwe brand.

“Matabeleland North and Zimbabwe in general is very rich in culture so these exchanges are important because they incorporate people living around Victoria Falls through community based enterprises that attract tourists to come and experience our culture.

“So this is part of community development through community based enterprises and as a destination we need to come up with strategies of going to China to market our destination. China has the largest population and if we can get 5 or 10 percent of that population coming into Zimbabwe we can grow our tourism. We need to leverage on these partnerships and cordial relations that we have with the Republic of China so that they come and experience our country,” he said.

-@ncubeleon