Zimbabwe has reopened the Victoria Falls land border with Zambia to fully vaccinated tourists to allow a smooth flow of visitors between the two neighboring countries.
Zimbabwe has reopened the Victoria Falls land border with Zambia to fully vaccinated tourists to allow a smooth flow of visitors between the two neighboring countries. The development follows the successful rollout of a COVID-19 vaccination program, in which more than 60 percent of residents of the border town of Victoria Falls have been vaccinated, reports Xinhua news agency.
The city of Victoria Falls is Zimbabwe’s premier tourist destination, and home to the mighty Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The adjacent Kazungula border post with neighboring Botswana has also been opened, with most visitors being vaccinated. However, despite the reopening of tourism activities in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe remains under level 4 lockdown and other land borders remain closed.
Earlier this week, following requests from players in the tourism sector, the cabinet resolved to reopen two border posts to allow tourism activities between the countries to resume.
Before the pandemic, more than 350,000 people flocked to Zimbabwe each year to visit Victoria Falls which is shared with Zambia to see the natural wonder.
However, with global travel restrictions and national lockdowns, tourist activities were put on hold for the most part of 2020.
Due to its heavy reliance on international tourists, Zimbabwe’s hospitality industry has been the hardest hit, and the sector is projected to lose at least $1 billion in potential revenue in 2020.
After the successful rollout of vaccines in resort towns, players in the tourism sector are optimistic that the tourism and hospitality industries will return to normalcy.
Victoria Falls’ vaccination campaign was launched in March with Sinovac vaccines purchased from China, and the tourist destination has become the first city in the region to store herd immunity.
Nick Mangwana, Permanent Secretary for Information Publicity and Broadcasting Services, said that since Victoria Falls has achieved herd immunity, President Emmerson Mnangagwa had directed that restaurants in the resort town allow customers to sit.
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