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Leonard Ncube,Victoria Falls Reporter

THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) says Zimbabwe’s removal from the United Kingdom travel ‘red list’ is a confidence booster to the country’s tourism industry as this will result in increased traffic into the destination.

When Covid-19 pandemic broke out almost two years ago, the United Kingdom put all tourism destinations under the red list to mitigate against the spread of the disease.

Zimbabwe’s removal together with other Sadc countries such as South Africa, Zambia, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and the Democratic Republic of Congo from UK’s red list, is effective from Monday next week.

In a statement, ZTA spokesperson Mr Godfrey Koti said: “The classification had put the destination in a disadvantaged position since the United Kingdom is one of Zimbabwe’s major source tourism markets. The announcement that destination Zimbabwe will be removed from the red list is incredibly exciting and the sector is fully prepared to help travellers get back to this beautiful tourism destination.”

He said the latest development brings hope for recovery of the sector.

“This is an acknowledgement of our government’s efforts in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. The vaccination programme has been a resounding success.

“We are looking forward to an increased traffic flow into the destination. We’re expecting to see the resumption of flights into destination Zimbabwe,” said Mr Koti. -@ncubeleon