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Prince Chidzvondo Business Reporter
The relationship between Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) and Air Tanzania continues to bear fruit as the country welcomed 10 travel agents from Dar es Salaam into Harare this week.

The delegation from Dar es Salam, which includes travel and consultant agents, bloggers and Air Tanzania representatives, is set to tour the main tourist attractions in Zimbabwe including the mighty Victoria Falls.

At a time where other airlines have been pulling out of Zimbabwe, Air Tanzania has recently re-established its flights into Harare from Dar es Salaam after two decades, hoping to aid the country in launching Zimbabwe as a major tourist destination along the efforts of ZTA.

“We are here as a Tanzanian group representing other people from the industry, and we have other people from the tourism group. We are here to see what Zimbabwe has to offer in terms of product, we are here to learn and forge new partnership,” managing director of Hakuna Matata Consulting Agency, Gumbo Mhandeni said.

Tanzania’s delegation also expressed interest in furthering business links with Zimbabwe.

The market for the Harare/Dar es Salaam route has also proved to be productive for both parties.

Speaking on arrival, Air Tanzania’s marketing executive Jerry Ngewe said; “Ever since our first flight a month ago, the numbers have been cultivating. We come here three times a week and we expect the numbers to rise even more as we encourage other countries to come through.”

“If we partner well with ZTA and other players, we are looking forward to much travel propensity. We are looking forward to forge this new partnership and actually establish good relationships, we have a good relationship with you guys so we look forward to it.”

“We believe we are going to bring more traffic with intra and inter travel as well as combination packages, whereby two operators will be able to sell Zimbabwe as a one stop destination with Tanzania.

Following the good history between Zimbabwe and Tanzania, the delegation was well versed with tourist attractions and Zimbabwean history, expressing much concern in selling them to the world and working with ZTA, whilst of cause, also promoting their airline.

“When we look at Zimbabwe, there are many places to talk of, so we look forward to see what else Zimbabwe has to offer. We also wish to return and acknowledge the presence of the Julius Nyerere Road.”

This increased relation will make it easier for travellers around the world to visit these attractions, and will further increase interactions between Zimbabwe, Tanzania and other players.