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Patrick Chitumba Senior Reporter
VICTORIA Falls, which has seen arrivals flatten over the past three years, is set for a major boost when it hosts the Routes Africa 2014 forum.
About 400-500 delegates are expected to attend the Routes Africa 2014 forum.
Currently, only four airlines namely South African Airways, BA Comair, Air Namibia and Air Zimbabwe are flying into Victoria Falls.
According to statistics from the Immigration department, 8,879 tourists arrived at the Victoria Falls international airport in 2012 and 11,970 in 2013.

Between January to February this year, 5,413 tourists have passed through the airport.
In this light, tour and adventure operators are confident that the hosting of the Routes Africa forum would renew interest from airlines to fly into the resort town.

Routes Africa is a forum where airlines, aviation, tourism and government representatives from the continent meet to explore opportunities to develop the aviation industry.

The event is organised by government through the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe (CAAZ).
In separate interviews, tour and adventure operators said it was high time the aviation industry was revamped to allow for more airlines to fly into the country.

Reports say some of the invited and confirmed airlines for the event include American Airways, Emirates, Air Turkey, among others.
“This is an opportunity for a perception change on the country and coming from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly, it is high time that airlines see the value of flying into the country,” said Israel Rupiya of Silver Tours.

Clement Mukwasi, a tourism executive, said the conference would also improve the number of flights into the country. Mlibizi Hotel manager in Binga, Maxmillan Chigubhu, said they were in the process of renovating the Mlibizi airstrip in anticipation of tourists in the near future.