Zimbabwe National Statistical Agency (Zimstat) has revealed that more than half of the tourists said that they had been harassed by the Zimbabwe Republic Police and tax collector Zimra. Zimstat polled 38 680 tourists in a 12 month period between November 2015 and November 2016 through the visitor exit survey (VES).
According to the survey, tourists were harassed as follows
- 43.2 percent Zimbabwe Republic Police
- 14.7 percent Zimra
- 8.7 percent Immigration
In the report Zimstat said:
In order to retain the reputation of Zimbabwe being a hospitable nation, there is need to ensure continuous training of frontline personnel who interact with visitors creating the first and last impressions on the destination such as Immigration, customs and police.
ZCT chief executive officer Paul Matamisa also blamed the police for driving down tourism saying:
We don’t have to beat around the bush in terms of the damage that is done by (police) roadblocks to the product.
If you are going to Bulawayo and there are 20 roadblocks you spend time stopping on 20 roadblocks. In other countries, you do not see so many roadblocks on roads to tourist resorts. That has to be dealt with effectively. They are doing tremendous damage to the tourism industry
More: New Zimbabwe