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HARARE, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Tourist arrivals in Zimbabwe's prime holiday destination, the Victoria Falls, have increased steadily since the re-launch of the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) uni-visa in December last year, an official said Tuesday.
The uni-visa allows visitors to stay in Zambia or Zimbabwe (or both) for up to 30 days for a single payment of 50 U.S. dollars.
It also covers people who want to enter Botswana for day-trips through the Kazungula border post.
Zimbabwe Council for Tourism representative for Matabeleland North, Barbara Murasiranwa was quoted by state-run new agency as saying that arrivals had increased by about 15 percent since re-introduction of the visa regime.
"Arrivals into Victoria Falls via Zambia had gone down prior to the re-launch of the uni-visa, but right now arrivals improved significantly because tourists can just arrive in Zambia and then proceed to Zimbabwe after paying just 50 dollars and they can still go back to Zambia or Zimbabwe again without facing any problems for a month," she said.
The uni-visa regime was first introduced during the 2014 United Nations World Tourism Organization general assembly that was cohosted by Zimbabwe and Zambia.
However, the uni-visa collapsed in December 2015 due to logistical and legal challenges.
Authorities had initially planned to roll out the uni-visa across five countries in the Kavango-Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area comprising Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Victoria Falls is primed to receive more tourists after expansion of Victoria Falls Airport by a Chinese company at a cost of 150 million dollars.
The expansion increased handling capacity to 1.5 million passengers per year from 500,000. Enditem
