The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) on Tuesday said it is planning to appoint a tourism attache in Russia soon as efforts to explore emerging markets intensify.

 

ZTA Chief Executive Karikoga Kaseke said Russia was one of Zimbabwe's top source markets in Eastern Europe. "We are going to appoint an attache there soon," he said. "We are working on that. Russia is a very big market that we can not afford to lose."

 

Kaseke said the country was also looking at such markets as the Czech Republic, South Korea and Singapore in its quest to diversify source markets after its demonization in the traditional source markets of western Europe.

 

Zimbabwe, he said, had also joined the worldwide race for China which has been predicted to become the world's biggest tourist source market by 2020.

 

The country has sent a tourism attache to China, while the Asian country has also granted Zimbabwe the highly acclaimed Approved Destination Status in an effort to promote tourism between the two countries.

 

Zimbabwe has also introduced a direct flight to Beijing to enhance human traffic, trade and business links with China.

 

Zimbabwe's tourism sector has taken a nosedive in recent years owing to the bad publicity the country receives from the international media.

 

The tourism sector contributes 6 percent to the country's gross domestic product, 2.2 percent of employment and 10 percent of total foreign currency earnings.  

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2006)