TEAM Zimbabwe UK tour coordinator Farai Mutsvunguma says they are working on ensuring that more Zimbabweans in the diaspora get to visit the country for tourism purposes.
Zimbabwe through the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) and other stakeholders have been working on trying to increase the number of arrivals in the country.
Some such initiatives include the one with Touchroad International Holdings which will be bringing about 350 tourists to the country every month, among others.
The country’s tourism sector mainly relies on foreign tourists for its survival as the locals are currently challenged by various other things which include affordability issues and lack of disposable income.
In an interview, Mutsvunguma said while the country works on establishing trust with foreign tourists, efforts must be done to lure Zimbabweans in the diaspora as they easily the country better.
“We are trying to encourage tourism from diasporans, we want diasporas to actually start to come home at the moment we know we are the only people who really understand Zimbabwe better.
“Diasporans have to be the new tourists until everyone else has got confidence in Zimbabwe, newspapers abroad are still writing negative staff about Zimbabwe so diasporans have to be the people who come.
“We went to Masvingo again for the same reason we want our fans, our parents and our colleagues in Diaspora to look at our children’s safety and the benefits of our monuments and be able to share it with.
What I have learnt over the years once I have been here with my children their friends realised that Zimbabwe is safe and they will come so far since last year 6 people have come to Zimbabwe as tourists because now they have seen our pictures and realise that Zimbabwe is very safe.
“Its something we need to encourage ourselves as Zimbabweans in the diaspora gets to sell Zimbabwe, those who are home need to sell Zimbabwe and our newspapers need to also sell Zimbabwe,” he said.
Mutsvunguma added that “if we don’t sell Zimbabwe we don’t have tourism, we don’t have jobs there are so many things we could benefit from tourism,” he said.
The tour coordinator also indicated that tomorrow (Friday 10 May) they will be visiting Mbare Musika to do shopping with the team in a bit to show people in the diaspora that the place is safe.
He said he is driven by the belief that no one loves Zimbabwe than Zimbabweans and that there is a need for a change of mindset towards a positive mind on the country.
According to Mutsvunguma, this week they have had about 32 000 interactions on their Facebook page concerning the tour adding that if the players can get to post pictures and videos on their social media platforms that will help send a huge message about Zimbabwe tourism.
The tour coordinator also added that not many people know about Imire Game Park and Balancing Rock in Harare but suddenly people are talking about it owing to their pictures and videos on social media.
“We went to the Balancing Rocks it was empty but now people are asking where is this place and we say Harare, that is what we want, we want people to say when I go to Harare I want to go and pay my US$4 and enter there and that US$4 is towards our economy little by little before you know it other foreigners will start to getting confidence.
“The more positive stories we share the more people come for me that is where we will head, it will happen over the next 3-4 years even if it means becoming a carnival of football that is good enough for me,” he said.
Meanwhile, Team Zimbabwe Uk witnessed the handover ceremony of a borehole water system at Chigwedere Primary School.
The water system was donated by Farai Mutsvunguma who also hail for that area and is a former pupil of the school.
School head paid tribute to Mutsvunguma for coming to the aid of the school adding that most parents were removing their children from that school due to lack of water.
A representative from the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education thanked the Mutsvunguma for the kind gesture and urged the school to take advantage of the water system to embark of income generating projects among many other things.
Mutsvunguma said he brought the team players to witness the occasion as a way of challenging them to help change communities they where they originate from.