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TOURIST arrivals in the prime holiday resort, the Victoria Falls, have increased steadily since the re-launch of the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) Uni-Visa in December last year, an official has said.

The Uni-Visa allows visitors to stay in Zambia or Zimbabwe (or both) countries for up to 30 days for a single payment of $50. 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 said 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 now they (tourists) can just arrive in Zambia and then proceed to Zimbabwe after paying just $50 and they can still go back to Zambia or Zimbabwe again without facing any problems for a month,” she said.

“I can say this Uni-Visa is something that we definitely needed as a tourism region.”

The Uni-Visa regime was first introduced during the 2014 United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly that Zimbabwe and Zambia co-hosted but collapsed in December 2015 due to logistical and legal reasons.

After the general assembly, the two countries piloted the regime for several months with the idea of rolling it out across five countries in the Kavango-Zambezi Trans-frontier Conservation Area to promote tourism.

The five countries included Namibia, Botswana, Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Victoria Falls is expected to receive more tourists after the re-development of the local airport at a cost of $150 million.

The facelift increased passenger handling capacity to 1,5 million per year, up from 500 000. Some of the new features of the airport include an international terminal building, a four kilometre runway and control tower, road networks and a new fire station. — New Ziana