The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has completed a research on the needs of Chinese market that it seeks to exploit, officials said on Sunday.

 

ZTA Chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said the report made by Zimbabwean researchers who were still in China would be made public next week. The research was aimed at giving Chinese tourists what they want when they visited the country, he said.

 

Zimbabwe witnessed an increase in Chinese tourist arrivals since it adopted the Look East Policy in 2003. The authority was training local guides to speak Chinese while some universities plan to introduce Chinese in their curricula.

 

ZTA launched the probe after realizing that Zimbabwe was an unknown destination to many Chinese tourists, Kaseke said. "We have to work hard to market Zimbabwe as a tourist destination," hestressed.

 

He said the authority expected to receive about 2,000 Chinese tourists every week. However, Zimbabwe's airline, Air Zimbabwe, which has the capacity of 100 passengers, flies to China once a week.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 27, 2006)