By Tatenda Mujeyi
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has engaged German tourist destination marketers, Pan Natura, in a bid to enhance promotion of Zimbabwe as a favourable tourist destination.
The 10-member delegation visited Mana pools among other Zimbabwean destinations and left Zimbabwe today for German were they said they will market Zimbabwe to potential German tourists.
The delegation included Pan Natura representatives, Ulrich Brandner, Julia Schneider, and Tours Key Account Manager Sales Andreas Brand.
The delegation commended Zimbabwe for its wildlife, people, culture and scenic views and weather.
“Zimbabwe has quality tourist destinations that have pictorial views. The culture and the people are welcoming and possesses vast history from which one can learn a lot and one cannot forget the weather,” ReiseAgentur brand owner and Pan Natura founder Ulrich Brandner said.
Pan Natura has already established local contacts to see to it that they are existent on the local market through Julia Schneider’s Zimbabwean based ADVENTOUR ZIM tours marketing firm.
“We have created a partnership between my company, reiseAgentur Brander and Pan Natura member, Julia Schnieder’s ADVENTOUR ZIM based in Mana Pools to see to the potential marketing of Zimbabwe. We are already offering tour products for the Germans to visit Zimbabwe,” Brandner said.
The tourists noted Zimbabwe as facing a marketing challenge with tourists only visiting the mighty Victoria Falls at the expense of other tourism destinations.
“When people visit Zimbabwe they might only see the Victoria Falls. They do not get information on the many other attractions in Zimbabwe. Mana Pools is beautiful, Hwange is beautiful, Kariba has a lot of attractions and so does Gonarezhou and the Eastern Highlands. There is however not a lot of information on these other destinations save for Victoria Falls and there is need to brand Zimbabwean tourism destinations so as to make people more aware,” ADVENTOUR ZIM Director and pan Natura member Julia Schnieder said.
First time visitors on the tour expressed appreciation of what Zimbabwe has to offer as a tourist destination and explored their commitment to contribute in marketing Zimbabwe.
“As a first time visitor I was impressed by what Zimbabwe has to offer as a tourist destination and my company ‘vtours’ has generated interest in the marketing process of Zimbabwean tourist products and we will likely be considering our engagement process in marketing Zimbabwe as a safe tourist destination,” VTOURS Key Account Manager Sales Andreas Brand said.
The campaign comes weeks after the successful touring of a Chinese tourist’s delegation through Touch Road International Holdings and shows Government and ZTA’s commitment to the successful branding of Zimbabwe as a top tourist destination.