Zimbabwe tourism slowly gaining ground

“… By avoiding our country, you are actually hurting us more.” – Sharon Stead, from Camp Amalinda, in an interview with Mark Sissons.

This is my favourite quote from a recent San Francisco Chronicle article about Zimbabwe. Many would-be tourists cite a similar reason for not visiting Zimbabwe: that travelling to the country would financially support the government, and not the people of Zimbabwe.

The writer of the article travelled across Zimbabwe to Victoria Falls, the Matobo Hills, Hwange National Park and a reserve off Gonarezhou National Park. He interviewed tour guides and camp owners – all of whom were proud of Zimbabwe; all of whom had first-hand experience of tourism’s potential to put the country back on track, despite the small percentage of tourist’s money that went to the government.

It seems that tourists are starting to agree: visitor numbers are slowly on the increase, according to the article. Read the full article here.