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THE Victoria Falls International Airport, which is undergoing expansion at a cost of $150 million, would be commissioned before the end of this year to facilitate the development of the tourism sector through increasing accessibility to the country, Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe general manager David Chawota has said.
He said the refurbishment of the airport is almost 99 percent complete.
“We’re waiting for the government’s directive concerning the commissioning of the project but it’ll be commissioned before the end of this year. The airport will facilitate the development of the tourism sector through allowing tourists to have a wide choice of getting into the country,” said Chawota.
The project is being supported by the government through a Chinese bank.
“The refurbishment of the airport will facilitate easy accessibility of the country and the airport will be able to accommodate at least 1.5 million passengers,” he said.
Chawota added that plans are underway to expand other airports to accommodate a larger number of passengers in line with promoting the tourism sector.
Zimbabwe has 13 airports, which are operating and 16 air flights to different countries.
Speaking at a roundtable meeting of ministers of tourism at the Sanganai/Hlanganani Travel Expo last week, Minister of Tourism and Hospitality Industry Walter Mzembi said the Victoria Falls project will go a long way in promoting the tourism sector and is expected to be commissioned in September.
“We’ve the Victoria Falls project, which is set to be commissioned this year, and the project is in line with promoting the tourism sector to improve tourists’ movement in the country,” he said.
He urged African countries to improve their airports so as to attract foreign airlines to facilitate achievement of double digit market share of the tourism sector by 2020.
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