Judith Phiri, Sunday Life Reporter
THE friendly nature of Zimbabweans has been viewed as one of the reasons attracting international tourists to the country.
Zimbabwe is known for its wonderful landscape and diverse wildlife, much of it within parks, reserves, and safari areas, as well as being home to one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls, an attraction that pulls thousands of visitors.
Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu recently appointed a German couple, Dr Reignold Hemker and his wife Reverend Kerstin Hemker, as Zimbabwe’s Tourism Ambassadors.
A tourism ambassador is an individual trained to help create better visitor experiences that increase visitor spending, satisfaction, length of stay, and repeat visitation. Ambassadors may be front-line employees at local hotels, restaurants, attractions and transportation, civic leaders, volunteers, and similar stakeholders. Speaking after the conferment, Rev Hemker said in most places they have visited in Zimbabwe the people were friendly.
“The people here in Zimbabwe make visitors come back. You have great artists. Zimbabwe is a nation of creative innovative artists and great people and it should be promoted,” said Rev Hemker.
She said the country also had cultural tourism which is a type of tourism activity in which the visitor’s essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination.
Rev Hemker said Zimbabwe had alternative tourism which is a form of tourism that represents an alternative to conventional mass tourism, while it includes rural, ecotourism, adventure and thematic tourism. She said as the German-Zimbabwe Society, there were also a number of programmes supported by the German Embassy that was being done in the country.
Her husband, Dr Hemker said Zimbabwe had a number of attractive places though in some areas there were challenges with the local authorities. Speaking at the same event, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive Ms Winnie Muchanyuka said the couple were doing a wonderful job promoting Destination Zimbabwe.
“I was recently in Berlin together with the Minister, Chief Director and a few of our colleagues. We had the pleasure of meeting ambuya and sekuru (Rev Hemker and Dr Hemker). It was amazing to learn about the work that they are doing on our behalf as Tourism Zimbabwe. It was really heartwarming for us to get to know about the passion that they have for our country especially the arts and various other projects that they have going in the country. They told us there is a group that will be coming within April and it’s a pleasure seeing them here,” said Ms Muchanyuka.