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Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Chief Executive, Ms. Winnie Muchanyuka engaged Chief Immigration Director, Ms. Respect Gono as part of efforts aimed at promoting accessible tourism for all.
The Immigration Department is at the starting and finishing point of international tourism as all tourists and visitors pass through immigration first when they come into the country and pass through immigration last when they leave the country.
Ms. Muchanyuka and her team’s critical stopover at the Immigration Department ties into ZTA’s ongoing whirlwind collaborative process of engaging tourism stakeholders, agencies, tour operators, and end-users to improve service delivery and refine the tourism product.
Speaking after the meeting, Ms. Muchanyuka said it was vital that ZTA and the Immigration Department work in unison to enable Zimbabwe to compete favourably against its competitors.
“A successful tourism product requires effective partnerships and cooperation across many sectors at the national, regional and international levels,” said Ms. Muchanyuka.
“For us to refine our tourism product we need to move in unison with critical stakeholders and the Immigration Department is one such stakeholder.”
“Among a wide range of issues that we deliberated on was the matter of accelerating our Service Excellence training programmes for staff at Ports of Entry focusing on Beitbridge Border Post, Victoria Falls International Airport, Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport, and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Airport.”
The Immigration Department welcomed the meeting which came as the tourism sector is seeking to rediscover its buoyant trend whose generated revenues play a pivotal role in the overall development of the economy.
“We are happy to be collaborating with ZTA to ensure we deliver the best service,” Ms. Gono said.
“Beitbridge Border Post is now a world-class facility and we want to replicate that across the country but we can’t do it alone. It starts with such engagements. I am very excited to be putting this in motion with the people responsible for the branding of the country.”