Online Reporter
Nqobile Bhebhe in Beijing, China
ZIMBABWE’S tourism sector stands at a pivotal moment. With growing international recognition, renewed domestic momentum and strong policy backing, the stage is set for long-awaited expansion.
As the country seeks to transform tourism from a complementary earner into a key economic pillar, valuable lessons can be drawn from China’s rapidly rebounding and evolving tourism industry, which is setting new global benchmarks in scale, innovation and inclusivity.
The numbers tell part of the story. According to the latest quarterly report from China’s National Immigration Administration, released on 15 April 2026, foreign nationals made 13,07 million cross-border trips in the first quarter of 2026 alone, marking a remarkable 41,7 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Overall border crossings, including Chinese citizens, reached 160 million, underscoring a robust revival of international travel.
But behind those statistics lies a deeper transformation. China has turned its film sector into an economic engine that drives millions of tourists to remote villages, ancient towns and mountain ranges that once sat quietly off the map.
China-Zimbabwe cooperation has the potential to shift from passive cultural exchange to active industrial collaboration, unlocking a massive creative sector economy that could see film and tourism become twin engines for growth, Mr Jiayang Sangzhu, Director of Foreign Affairs at China Film Group said.
Speaking exclusively to a Zimbabwean media delegation in Beijing on Monday, Mr Sangzhu argued that the old model of simply screening movies overseas has become obsolete.
He instead called for a sophisticated mechanism in which content, communication, physical locations and consumer spending operate as a single, integrated system — a closed loop from living room to landing strip.
“China-Zimbabwe cooperation can move from ‘seeing each other’ to ‘creating together’. Link cinema with tourism and people-to-people learning. Let Zimbabwean audiences see China while encouraging more Chinese filmmakers to enter Zimbabwe largely,” said Mr Sangzhu, his tone carrying the weight of both artistic instinct and industrial pragmatism.
He emphasised that film is no longer merely an artistic medium but a powerful economic coordination tool — a gearbox connecting culture to commerce.
“Film is not a slogan. It is a coordination mechanism. Films are now an entry point for the tourism travel sector. Content should be seen as the source, communication as the amplifier, scenes as the converter and consumption as the outcome. The new logic is not simply to send films abroad; it is to organise stories.”
The unique link between the film sector and tourism lies in cinema’s ability to transform passive viewers into active travellers.
When a landmark is featured prominently in a compelling narrative, it ceases to be merely a geographic location and becomes an emotional destination — a place people have already visited in their imagination before their passports are stamped.
For Zimbabwe, which boasts world-class landmarks including Victoria Falls, the Great Zimbabwe ruins and the Matobo Hills, the lesson is urgent.
A film festival, properly executed, can do more than celebrate art; it can fill hotels, restaurants and tour buses.
More than that, a single blockbuster shot among those ancient stones can rewrite a nation’s tourism destiny.
Citing China’s own success — where films have turned remote rice terraces into bucket-list journeys and forgotten villages into weekend pilgrimages — Mr Sangzhu noted that international audiences, after watching Chinese films, develop specific geographic curiosity.
“They will know about various landmarks and ignite in them the desire to combine film and real-life experience by travelling. International film communication no longer stops at overseas awareness. It can be converted into arrival, experience and consumption.”
The ultimate measure of success, the academic stressed, is not how many people watch a film, but how many book a flight.
“Travel deepens national image perception and inbound tourism activates awareness,” he added.
Mr Sangzhu painted a stark picture of how Africa has been framed through foreign lenses. He said Africa and Zimbabwe were often portrayed negatively in Western films through stereotypes centred on conflict, political instability and violence — a distorted mirror held up to a continent in transition.
“For China, we mainly know Zimbabwe and Africa from the lens of US movies. In their stories and movies, they talk about political regime change, military conflict, tribes, robbery and terrorism. I think that is not true about the current Africa. That is not true about the current Zimbabwe.”
He said Zimbabwe needed to project its own identity and developmental progress through authentic storytelling — to seize the camera and direct its own narrative.
“The thing is that Zimbabwe needs to be more culturally confident and tell the world and tell China about what it has changed and what it has advanced forward. We need to show the world our real image and the legitimate image,” said Mr Sangzhu.
He cautioned against allowing foreign film industries to dominate African narratives while using African countries merely as shooting locations — an extractive model that captures scenery but leaves stories behind.
“To simply follow the path where foreign teams come to shoot movies on your land and then decide what content they produce is not right. In their movies, they stigmatise your image. They have distorted your legitimate image into a wrong one, into a stereotyped one,” he said.
Industry players in Zimbabwe have welcomed the proposed film-tourism linkage as long overdue — a missing key finally turning in a stubborn lock.
Mr Mthulisi Dube, Chief Executive Officer of a Bulawayo-based tourism marketing agency, said that for years the sector has relied on the same trade fairs and travel magazines to market Victoria Falls and Hwange.
“But film reaches billions of people in their living rooms. When a Chinese family sees their favourite actor walking through the Matobo Hills or standing before Khami Ruins, that family will start saving for that trip immediately. Film is the most powerful unpaid advertisement any destination could ask for,” said Mr Dube.
Ms Nomsa Ndlovu, owner of a cultural tour operator based in Bulawayo’s city centre, said she has experienced the strain of low seasons and understands the weight of an empty calendar.
“We have world-class attractions, but the world does not know our stories fully. If Chinese filmmakers come and shoot a romance or an adventure film at the Matopos National Park, suddenly those granite hills become more iconic. Our tour buses are empty in the low season, but a single hit film can change that overnight. I see this cooperation not as a luxury but as a necessity,” said Ms Ndlovu.
She called on the Zimbabwean Government to introduce tax incentives for international productions, arguing that every film crew that enters the country supports local caterers, drivers, guides and craft producers — creating a ripple effect far beyond the screen.
“Film does not just market the destination,” she said. “Film becomes the destination.”
Mr Sangzhu outlined several practical entry points for Zimbabwean filmmakers and production houses seeking collaboration with China’s film sector. He said filmmakers could begin by engaging directly with institutions such as the China Film Group, which can facilitate communication with senior departments and relevant production units.
Zimbabwean filmmakers could also work through the Chinese Embassy in Zimbabwe, which serves as a formal diplomatic channel for submitting proposals, projects and cooperation interests to Chinese cultural and media authorities.
In addition, he encouraged continuous networking and sustained engagement between Zimbabwean producers and Chinese media stakeholders — a long conversation rather than a single handshake. According to him, Zimbabwean films submitted for collaboration would be assessed for their cultural relevance and potential to enhance people-to-people understanding between the two countries.
Mr Sangzhu said that while the Chinese market remains relatively limited in its exposure to Zimbabwean and African films, there is a willingness to introduce such content — even where immediate financial returns are modest — in order to build a foundation for long-term cooperation.
This foundation, he added, would eventually lead to structured co-productions and broader implementation projects between Zimbabwe and China in the film and television sector.
Mr Sangzhu also expressed interest in Zimbabwe’s sports and music industries, noting that these could serve as important cultural bridges between Chinese and Zimbabwean audiences.
He emphasised that the benefits of such cooperation extend beyond economics.
They reach into trust, friendship and the gradual architecture of mutual understanding between nations.
“When nations collaborate through cinema, they build something deeper than a transaction. When cinema becomes the medium, exchange becomes more than promotion. It becomes cultural dialogue, industrial learning and trust-building between societies,” Mr Sangzhu said.
For Zimbabwe, he said, narrative control and strategic destination branding are no longer optional — they are essential to reshaping global perceptions and attracting new visitor segments.
The opportunity to move from “seeing each other” to “creating together” has never been more urgent or more attainable.
As the country stands at this critical juncture, the lesson from China is clear: a single blockbuster filmed among the ruins of Great Zimbabwe or along the spray of Victoria Falls could generate more international interest than a decade of traditional brochures.
Films create visual memories that linger long after the credits roll.
And those memories translate directly into hotel bookings, flight reservations and tour engagements.
Therefore, for Zimbabwe, the “reel economy” is no longer a distant dream; it is the next frontier, and the camera is ready to roll.
