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By Sugar Chagonda in Madrid, Spain
ZIMBABWE and Ethiopian Airlines will this year engage in various joint marketing initiatives aimed at promoting the country’s tourism sector in the Spanish and Portuguese markets.
This was revealed by Ethiopian Airlines area manager for Spain and Portugal, Mr Alemu Bekele, during the official launch of the Victoria Falls-Madrid route in Spain.
“We are excited to be working with progressive destinations like Zimbabwe through the ZTA.
“We see a lot of potential in the Madrid-Victoria Falls route so it is our undertaking to nurture and develop this route together with them. We are planning on having roadshows particularly in Spain and Portugal”, he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive, Mr Karikoga Kaseke, expressed gratification at how Ethiopian Airlines has continued to respond to the aspirations of Zimbabwe’s tourism sector.
“Ethiopian Airlines have consistently supported us and always been forthcoming to our calls for close collaboration in the areas of joint marketing and promotion. We are optimistic that close co-operation will yield more results for mutual benefit.
“So this year we will fully implement the MoU we signed with them. It is our wish to expand this collaboration to cover other markets in Europe and beyond,” he said.
The ZTA boss added that apart from Ethiopian Airlines, there are other airlines that have expressed interest in flying into the resort town of Victoria Falls.
“A number of Airlines have shown interest in flying into Victoria Falls and as Government we will continue to court more airlines because we want to see the full utilisation of the recently upgraded and commissioned Victoria Falls International Airport. It has untapped potential to become a hub of air traffic in the sub region”.
The ZTA and Ethiopian Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding for joint marketing and cooperation last year.
In the spirit of the same pact, the two parties have continued to work together particularly during Zimbabwe’s premier business exchange, Sanganai/ Hlanganani World Tourism Expo that saw the hosting of travel trade buyers from Spain and Portugal.
derick.khumalo