Late Tuesday after a Cabinet meeting, Information Minister
Monica Mutsvangwa told reporters that the government had resolved to lift a lid
on Victoria Falls, the tallest waterfall in the world and the country's top
tourism destination.
"[The] Cabinet acceded to a request by the tourism
industry to open the Victoria Falls and Kazungula Border posts to tourists who
are fully vaccinated. This is in view of the realization that over 60% of the
population in Victoria Falls has been vaccinated. The lockdown measures,
however, are being enforced throughout the country in order to curtail a surge
under the third wave of COVID-19," Mutsvangwa said.
Godfrey Koti, spokesman for the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority,
says the pandemic had brought the tourism industry worldwide to its knees. He
says it is time for Zimbabwe to begin the long climb back with the opening up
of Victoria Falls, within the confines and guidelines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"And from a regional perspective, the tourism traffic
will grow and this will send a very strong message to our source markets. This
is a definite way of showing, of a benefit being shown from [the] government's
drive of vaccinating the entire city of Victoria Falls and subsequently
Victoria Falls reaching herd immunity. So, we are very excited to see this
happening and it can only show that we are definitely moving in the right
direction," Koti said.
About 1.5 million Zimbabweans out of a population of 14
million have received their first vaccination shot, and nearly 695,000 have
received their second inoculation.
Clement Mukwasi, a spokesman for Shearwater, one of the
tourism operators in Victoria Falls, sounded an optimistic tone.
"It is the industry's hope that towards the end of the
pandemic - which we think we are in - there shall be some credit lines extended
to the industry for the industry to recover. We applaud the government for
taking our call to open the borders of Zambia and Botswana because Victoria
Falls has reached its herd immunity. We are hoping that in addition to opening
the borders, they are also going to set up a policy on how people should flow
across all three countries," he said.
Mukwasi said those who are vaccinated should be allowed to
move across the country without any problem, while those who are not vaccinated
should produce results showing they have tested negative for the coronavirus,
which causes the COVID-19.
Zimbabwe currently has 101,711 confirmed coronavirus
infections and 3,280 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is
tracking the global outbreak.
The government says the vaccination program will intensify
after the arrival of more doses from China in the coming days. The number of
cases has been rising, as the delta variant becomes more widespread.