Chinese tourists to Zimbabwe shoot up by 62 percent

The number of Chinese visitors to Zimbabwe shot up by 62 percent from 1 202 in the first quarter of last year to 1 952 during the same period this year, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

The increase comes at a time when the Zimbabwe government has expressed concern at the low tourist arrivals from China, and has expressed keen interest to relax visa rules to boost Chinese arrivals, according to the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority.

The Chinese are currently required to obtain visas to visit Zimbabwe in China and the Zimbabwe government says it wants the rule relaxed so that they get the visas upon arrival in Zimbabwe.

In 2014, Chinese arrivals to Zimbabwe totaled 12 927. China was the second largest contributor of arrivals from Asia after Japan, which led with 18 443 visitors.

Asian tourist arrivals to Zimbabwe have been falling since last year due to the concerns over the spread of Ebola, even though the virus did not spread to Southern Africa.

Overall, tourist arrivals in the first quarter of 2015 marginally fell to 387 557 from 388 732 in the same period of 2014, the ZTA says.

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