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ZIMBABWE WEEK on IBIT

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FIRST IN A SERIES

We kick off the biggest annual event in African tourism with a week-long look at a country making a major comeback on the world travel scene — Zimbabwe.

Next Friday, the Africa Travel Association will convene its annual congress at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. Government tourism ministers, private tourism organizers and tour providers from across the Mother Continent will be there.

Every year, this five-day congress is the single most important event for African tourism held on the continent itself, and 2012 figures to be no exception.

But even more than that, this year’s congress represents the re-emergence of Zimbabwe as a major travel destination in Africa, a journey that began when Zimbabwe renewed its ATA membership last summer.

So to celebrate, this week is going to be ZIMBABWE WEEK on “I’m Black and I Travel.”

Each day this week, IBIT will show you one of the reasons why Zimbabwe needs to be on your African travel radar, including attractions that have nothing to do with wildlife.

Don’t get it twisted. Zimbabwe is one of Africa’s great havens of flora and fauna, which make it an ideal safari destination. But there is so much more to Africa than just safaris.

So this week, IBIT will give you a peek at some of what Zimbabwe has to offer in both natural and urban attractions. And believe me, it’s only a peek, only a taste. If we were to get encyclopedic about this, it would take a lot longer than a week.

We’ll be looking at the country’s abundant cultural life, its role in African history, and get into some of the nuts and bolts of creating your own Zimbabwean visit.

So come with IBIT on a week-long journey to the land known as the “World of Wonders.” Zimbabwe.

Edited by P.A.Rice

ZIMBABWE: Revealing “a World of Wonders”

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Zimbabwe sunset

© Outdoorsman | Dreamstime.com

The convening of the Africa Travel Association’s annual congress at Victoria Falls signals the rise of a new player on the African travel scene, and it’s one you might not expect.

When you think of African travel and tourism, you probably don’t think of more than a handful of the 54 countries that officially comprise the Mother Continent. The odds are equally good that Zimbabwe won’t be one of them.

Zimbabwe would like very much to change that.

If you heard anything at all about Zimbabwe over the last several years, it probably revolved around political wrangling within the country, staggering inflation and criticism from Western countries over the seizure of lands, sometimes violently, from former colonial settlers and farmers.

Since then, a political power-sharing agreement has reduced the turmoil and the country has its inflation under control — in part by pegging the national currency to the US dollar.

Now, the country is looking outward — and inviting travelers — including Americans — to come in.

It’s an effort that appears to have official blessings on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

Earlier this year, the Africa Travel Association, which holds its annual congress in an African country, announced that this year’s congress would return this May to Zimbabwe for the first time since 1988.

The gathering annually brings together government tourism ministers from across Africa, as well as industry professionals, tourism providers, scholars, travel trade media and leaders from the African Diaspora.

Charles Ray, U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, has been enthusiastic about ATA’s return:

“Zimbabwe offers a ‘World of Wonders’ to tickle the fancy and sense of adventure of the full array of international travelers…Your visit to Zimbabwe will bring a smile to your face for a lifetime.  I applaud ATA’s vision in…opening the world’s eyes to what Zimbabwe has to offer.”

It’s no accident that the ATA gathering is being held not in the capital city, Harare, but on the Zambezi River at Victoria Falls, which is believed to be the largest waterfall in the world.

(Zimbabwe actually shares Victoria Falls with neighboring Zambia.)

Nor is it an accident that high-ranking members of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority are in the United States in the run-up to the ATA congress. At a news conference hosted by the association, Tesa Chikaponya, the authority’s executive director for destination marketing, spelled out some of the multiple directions the country is taking:

  • Adventure tourism
  • Eco-tourism
  • Cultural tourism
  • African diasporan/heritage tourism
  • MICE tourism — Meetings, incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions

An ambitious agenda, to say the least. But in the increasingly fierce competition for African tourism, Zimbabwe has some good cards to play, as Ms. Chikaponya pointed out:

“We have a lot to offer as a destination, starting with the resort town of Victoria Falls, which boasts of being the adventure capital of Zimbabwe. It’s an experience to be on the Zambezi River. There is a pristine wildlife habitat, the Eastern Highlands…Lake Kariba (the world’s largest man-made reservoir). There is a rich history and heritage that we want to share.

“Zimbabweans are a wonderful people, sharing smiles every day of our lives, looking to give a helping hand to anyone.”

The country’s decision to tie their economy to the dollar also has a major fringe benefit for US travelers: No need to change money. Touch down there with the dollars you’d normally have in your wallet and you’re ready to roll.

In fact, just about any Western currency will work just fine, according to Ms. Chikaponya. “Bring your euros, bring your pounds, bring your US dollars. You can buy in Zimbabwe.”

And like many African countries, Zimbabwe is looking for foreign investors as well as foreign visitors, she said.

It’s not all about generating money, however. Ms. Chikaponya explained that Zimbabwe wants to use tourism as a vehicle for preserving its heritage.

Given the damage that mass tourism can sometimes do to a culture, that almost seems counter-intuitive, but they’re serious about it.

There, too, Zimbabwe has some precious assets, several historical sites, the most important of which may be Great Zimbabwe, the ruins of the original Kingdom of Zimbabwe, built with such skill and sophistication that generations of white colonists refused to accept that black Africans had actually built it.

“We’re focusing on our national shrines. We have many places that for a long time have not been looked at,” said Ms. Chikaponya. “We know that cultural tourism is very important and we need to preserve our culture for future generations. We are setting up cultural villages to preserve our folklore.”

Naturally, all this has got me wondering about the nation, whose nickname is “World of Wonders.” If Zimbabwe wasn’t on my list before, it is now.

IF YOU GO
Zimbabwe is a landlocked nation roughly the size of Montana in southeastern Africa, bordered by four countries — Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa and Botswana.

The country’s population is approximately 12 million people, about the same as the city of Mumbai. Nearly a quarter of all Zimbabweans live in or near the capital city of Harare. The national climate is tropical. It sits mostly on two high plateaus, with mountains to the east.

In its days as a British colony, it was known as Southern Rhodesia. It was known for 15 years as Rhodesia when whites, led by Ian Smith, broke away from Britain rather than accept the colony’s conversion to a black-majority-ruled independent state. After much turmoil, its independence as Zimbabwe was formally recognized in 1980.

As is the case with most of Africa, there are no nonstop flights between the United States and Zimbabwe, nor are there any US-based airlines flying there. Likewise, the country’s national airline, Air Zimbabwe, does not fly to the United States.

African airlines that serve Zimbabwe include EgyptAir, South African Airways, Kenya Airways, TAAG Angola Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines, as does Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East.

Non-African airlines that serve Harare include British Airways, Lufthansa, KLM and Emirates, the largest airline in the Middle East.

All but Emirates are members of airline alliances that enable US airlines to book flights to Zimbabwe on a code-share basis.

US visitors to Zimbabwe need to obtain a visa from the Zimbabwean Embassy in Washington DC or upon arrival.

Edited by P.A. Rice

Q&A: Edward “Eddie” Bergman

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The executive director of the Africa Travel Association has a wide-ranging telephone interview with IBIT about the promises and challenges of African tourism, including the re-emergence of Zimbabwe as a destination.

For six years, Edward Bergman has headed the Africa Travel Association. The son of South African emigrés, he now devotes much of his life to bringing others to the Mother Continent in ways that benefit the host as well as the visitor.

Just ahead of the association’s annual US-Africa Tourism Seminar in Washington DC, he looks at where African tourism is today and where it may be going.

Q. What would you say have been the most important developments in African tourism during your tenure with the Africa Travel Association?

A. Certainly the increase in air access. You didn’t have American airlines flying into Africa. Now you have two. Ethiopian Airlines having 10 (Boeing 787) Dreamliners, that’s a very historical thing. You didn’t have Arik Air that was serving the Nigerian market. Arik has potential to re-create the old Air Afrique routes. They could be a one-stop shop for going to any country they serve in West Africa once that happens.

The (2010 FIFA) World Cup in South Africa. That showed the world that Africa could compete. South Africa made it clear that it wasn’t a South African World Cup but an African World Cup. That really was very big.

Nobody imagined six years years ago that we’d have an African-American president who had family in Africa. It’s a major thing for Africa and for African tourism.

Q. Travelers are always looking for the undiscovered gem. What or where would you say is Africa’s undiscovered gem at present?

A. If I was to predict, I would say destinations such as Libya will become hot. I’m told the cultural tourism product there is spectacular. We were actually looking at having a meeting in Libya before things changed paths. We were actually being encouraged by many people, including Americans.

I think Central Africa could become very interesting. All this depends on safety and security.

West Africa has huge potential, once people can travel more easily with respect to visas.

Q. What are the prospects of getting better air connections to Africa from the US West Coast?

A. We know that a large number of travelers going to Africa are coming from the West Coast. South African Airways has developed a partnership with JetBlue. That may be the direction in which the airlines are going. Code-sharing.

Q. In travel industry trade shows around the United States, the emphasis is almost entirely on safari travel. Doesn’t Africa have more to offer than just wildlife?

A. We haven’t exclusively focused on safaris. ATA has always stood for diversified tourism products. Cultural tourism, heritage tourism, culinary tourism, going to Africa and meeting the people — this is why more people are traveling to Africa. The things we’ve been talking about all these years are coming to light. All of a sudden, it’s cool to go to Rwanda. Who would’ve thought that 14 years ago?

As for the trade shows in the United States, more of the African exhibitors are coming from the private sectors. In Europe, they tend to come more from the governments of the African countries. They’re not investing in the US market. That leaves a gap that the private sector is filling, and the majority of the private sector exhibitors are selling safari tourism products.

Q. What do you see as some of the areas of greatest potential for African tourism?

A. Cruise tourism. The cruise industry is very interested in West Africa; I think we’re going to see some interesting developments there. It needs a set price to make it affordable. Also, the African countries that serve as cruise destinations have to be very firm in making sure that these cruises deliver real benefit to their countries and not just to the cruise lines.

Convention tourism. There are a lot of organizations, a lot of African-American organizations, that could bring their conventions to Africa. I don’t think there’s that much taking place currently. There’s great potential in that.

How about youth tourism? Wouldn’t it be wonderful for African-American youth to travel to Africa while they’re in high school? Educational trips involving multiple countries. I think the cruise industry has some real potential there. Again, the keys would be doing it in a way that was not pricey and in a way that benefits Africa.

Then there’s the Internet. It’s old news to us, but it’s not old news in Africa. As the Internet becomes faster in Africa, it’s going to help the industry. Lodges are being rated on TripAdvisor. You can book stays on Expedia. African tour operators can market themselves directly.

Q.The annual ATA World Congress is going to be held this year at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe. What do you see as the major issues in African travel to be discussed this year?

I think culinary tourism is something we need to talk about. We’re going to try to find a way to put this on the agenda, to find ways for African countries to showcase their food. In Victoria Falls, where we’re holding the congress this spring, you can have the African experience. But other than that, once you get outside the capital city of Harare, the hotels are serving Western food and that food is often being flown in and that just doesn’t make any sense.

When you go to Africa, you shouldn’t be having frozen fish that’s imported.

We need to look at striking a good balance between cultural and environmental tourism.

We really need to look at Zimbabwe itself, the difference between the perception of the country that we’re given by the Western media and the reality on the ground. It’s a lot different than one fears it is. They will be participating in the seminar on Friday. We also will be organizing a road show for Zimbabwe.

Tourism has always been important to the Zimbabwean economy. Now that things are settling politically, there seems to be this renewed interest, especially from the West. There’s a definite commitment to bringing back the US visitors. The US ambassador in Zimbabwe is a very strong proponent of the tourism industry in Zimbabwe and has given very strong support for this congress.

Q. What are some of the potential and challenges you see in further developing African tourism?

A. I would say East Africa…as infrastructure grows, tourism will grow. New regions within countries need to be explored (for their tourism potential).

From the US, we still do not have direct flight service to East Africa. One has to go through Europe or South Africa. There’s no direct flight to Kenya or Tanzania. There’s a market for that. The question is when that will happen.

From the US market, I also think that West Africa has great potential. It all depends on how political events play out, especially in Senegal, which was doing well (prior to the current presidential election) and has the potential to do very, very well.

(African) countries need to do more marketing and promotion in the United States, especially when it comes to event tourism. There’s great potential for that in the US market.

Q. Where do you see the Africa Travel Association headed in the next few years?

A. ATA needs to be seen as an organization that belongs to Africa politically. Some still see ATA as an American organization. We’ve worked very closely with the African Union Commission, for infrastructure, energy and now, tourism. We recently signed a (memorandum of understanding) that declares ATA as a partner with the AU…that outlines the beginnings of a roadmap in promoting tourism.

The next step is to move our political headquarters to Africa. We would like to see the ATA headquarters in Ethiopia, where the African Union has its headquarters. It then becomes an African regional organization

Edited by P.A.Rice

AFRICA: One visa fits all?

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Little by little, step by step, an idea is starting to spread across Africa that could galvanize travel and tourism on the Mother Continent.

Think of it as a kind of pan-African super visa.

Today, the five nations that comprise the East African Community — Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda — made it known that they are looking to create a single visa that would allow foreign travelers to visit any or all five countries. You can read about it here.

Earlier this year at the annual congress of the Africa Travel Association in The Gambia, ATA members and African government officials began floating the idea of a diaspora visa, aimed at getting African-Americans to visit and African emigres to return home to invest.

Ghana already offers just such a visa.

The EAC proposal goes further, extending a common visa to any foreign visitor.

The 13 West African nations that comprise ECOWAS already offer a common visa that allows the free movement of any citizen from an ECOWAS-member nation.

You can see where all this is gradually headed — a single tourist visa allowing foreign visitors to enter any African country — or all of them — on a single immigration control.

Why does this matter to African tourism — and potentially to you if you’re thinking of going there someday?

There are 53 countries on the continent. To visit most of them, you have to obtain — and pay for — a visa for each country. In most cases, you can’t get it in advance. You have to obtain it — and pay for it — on your arrival.

Imagine that you decide to take a recreational vehicle on a summer-long trek around the 48 continental United States. Imagine that at the first state line you encounter, you have to stop, get out, go into a government office and pay upwards of $100 before you can enter that state. Now imagine having to repeat that process 47 times.

Still want to take that trip?

Here’s another example. You live in, say, Delaware, and you just spotted what looks like a great Hawaiian cruise package. The flight that takes you to the cruise ship waiting in Long Beach, CA leaves from Newark, NJ. So you pay both New Jersey and California to enter those states.

And when you dock in Honolulu, you’ll be paying Hawaii, as well.

Madness, isn’t it? But that’s the reality of travel and tourism in Africa today. And that’s exactly what streamlining the region’s immigration controls would do away with.

Western Europe did away with theirs when they formed the European Union in 1993, and the idea has been gradually spreading across the globe ever since, regionally, here and there.

Comes now 2010, and the nations of Africa are starting to realize the wisdom — and potential benefits — of doing the same thing.

Getting the entire continent on board with this idea won’t be easy. Making it work will require some things not always found in abundance among the 53 African nations — internal stability, mutual trust and a vision that encompasses the entire region. But there are signs that the Mother Continent is moving in that direction — and the EAC proposal is one of them.

Little by little, step by step.

America and Africa: Double frustration

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It’s bad enough when a black man is hassled in U.S. airports because he’s African. When he’s hassled in African airports for essentially the same reason, it’s worse.

Ogo Sow is a native of Senegal, a naturalized U.S. citizen and a veteran broadcast journalist. He’s dedicated himself to bringing America and Africa closer together. That makes him a man with one foot on two continents, which is a blessing.

Until he goes to travel. Then, it becomes a curse.

His story highlights the problems facing African emigres who wish to re-connect with their homelands and African-Americans who want to visit or invest in Africa.

It also shows how long and hard the road will be for the Mother Continent to raise her global profile as a travel destination.

On our side of the Atlantic, Mr. Sow faces extra scrutiny and heightened suspicion in U.S. airports if he shows up dressed as he is here, in the traditional garb of his birthplace.

On the other side, just trying to enter an African country can result in hours of delays and hundreds of dollars in fees — and that’s each time you try to enter or leave most of Africa’s 53 nations.

“SUSPICIOUS” ATTIRE
As a Georgia resident who flies frequently out of Atlanta, Mr. Sow is hardly unfamiliar to the TSA screeners. Senegal is not on the federal government’s list of nations that support terrorism, and to his knowledge, he is not on anybody’s “terrorist watch list.”

But wearing traditional Senegalese dress, he says, is enough to get him treated as if he were a suspect.

“If I go to the airport in Western clothes, they treat me like anyone else, no problems,” he says. “If I wear the traditional clothes of Senegal, they put me through the machine ten times.”

Okay, we know what this is about. Call it Post-9/11 Stress Disorder. But at least once his flight touches down in an African country, he can look forward to better treatment, right?

Well…no.

Mr. Sow’s Senegalese passport allows him to travel freely among all 15 West African countries belonging to ECOWAS — the Economic Community of West African States. Once outside of those 15 countries, things change, he says.

From left -- ATA board member Ogo Sow, ATA executive director Edward Bergman

On a recent trip to Kenya on behalf of the Africa Travel Association, he was held up at the airport for 12 hours. Kenyan immigration officers refused to recognize a passport from Senegal, he says.

With him was ATA president Edward Bergman, traveling on an American passport. He was allowed through, no problems.

“I am traveling on an African passport and I am delayed 12 hours — in an African country?”

HERE A VISA, THERE A VISA, EVERYWHERE A VISA
And it’s hardly just Kenya. While many Americans tend to think of Africa as a single, unified entity, the fact is that Africa is 53 nations, each with its own priorities, its own narrowly focused agenda — and its own immigration policies.

(Contrast this with the European Union, which did away with separate visa requirements for its member states. You can visit any or all of the EU’s 27 countries on a single visa.)

“You go to Benin, you have to buy a visa. You go from Benin to Mali, you have to buy a visa. You go from Mali next-door to Senegal, you have to buy a visa,” says Mr. Sow. “Each time, each country, you may be paying more than $100.”

Having to shell out a Benjamin Franklin every time to want to enter a different country can let the air out of your travel budget in a hurry. Who wants to bother with that?

This wilderness of red tape also discourages would-be investors who are looking for countries that offer fewer hassles, not more of them. Among those being discouraged are Africans living abroad.

THREE FAMILIES
“African emigres send billions of dollars every year back to their families back in Africa, more money than all the foreign aid that comes into Africa,” says Mr. Sow. “Many would like to come back to invest, to build, but they make it difficult to come back. African-Americans also should be welcome to come and invest. Instead, they make it difficult.

“In the African diaspora, we are three families together — Africans, African-Americans, African emigres. We should be united. We should be together.”

From here, it all seems a bit shortsighted. Visa fees may drop a few dollars into the national treasuries of individual countries, but a streamlined immigration control that makes their countries more inviting for travelers — and investors — could bring in a lot more, to all of them.

Indeed, there’s talk now of setting up a diaspora visa, allowing African emigres and African-Americans to travel throughout Africa the same way we can now travel throughout Europe, on a single visa.

Meanwhile, whether in the West or on the African continent, the frustration of men like Ogo Sow is growing.

“I’m tired of this blockade, on both sides,” he says. “We don’t have the respect we are supposed to have.”

Greg Gross is a member of the Africa Travel Association

—

Photos courtesy of O. Sow

The ultimate travel document

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The diaspora visa, an idea whose time is coming — gradually

African tourism, despite the lingering recession, continues to rise — but the Mother Continent wants more. In particular, African countries are targeting diaspora travelers — black Americans, black Caribbeans and African emigres who haven’t been home for awhile — and they’ve come up with an intriguing idea to help lure them.

The diaspora visa.

It’s an idea that was discussed at the recently concluded congress of the Africa Travel Association, held this year in The Gambia. And if it ever comes to pass, it could revolutionize travel and tourism in Africa. Basically, it’s a visa that would allow Africans in the diaspora — the descendants of African slaves in the United States, the Caribbean and elsewhere — to visit needing only their passport.

Ghana began five years ago offering a diaspora visa for black Americans wanting to visit that West African country, waiving the regular requirements (they also offer dual citizenship to black Americans who commit to long-term investment in Ghana).

But as African emigre, broadcaster and ATA director Ogo Sow explained to me, the idea discussed at this year’s congress goes much, much further.

“We talked about creating a diaspora visa that would allow you to travel all over the continent without a (regular) visa,” he said.

Currently, for every country you wish to visit in Africa, you need a separate visa from that country — and have to pay their separate fee each time. Depending on how many nations you want to visit on a single trip, it’s a huge headache, and expense, for the traveler.

With a diaspora passport, your black face and your U.S. passport would give you diplomatic entree to visit any or all of Africa’s 53 nations.

The impact of this for African tourism, were it actually to take hold, would be immense.

The concept itself is not new. One of the most popular things the European Union did when it came into being was to eliminate national visas among its member nations — and dump those same visa requirements for visitors from friendly lands. Which is why today, any American visiting Europe gets one visa stamp in his passport when he first enters the continent — and that stamp is good to enter any other EU country.

“In Europe, you can got anywhere you want to on one visa,” Sow noted.

I saw this in action for myself the day we crossed the Rhine from Strasbourg, France for a brief day-trip to the small German town of Kehl. No one was stopping vehicles to check anyone for papers. The checkpoints on either side of the bridge were long gone.

We crossed from France to Germany and back again on a Strasbourg city bus — and no one on either side thought twice about it. Commerce between the city of Strasbourg and the town of Kehl moved back and forth just as easily. It was a beautiful thing.

If it can work in Western Europe, the thinking goes — and clearly, it does — why not Africa?

It’s all part of a larger push to get the rest of the world, especially Europe and the United States, to see Africa and her 53 nations more favorably as a collective travel destination.

“After 50 years of independence,” said Sow, “we should now really start being part of the world in terms of tourism.”

Don’t look for this to happen in the next few months. The EU had its share of technical and political difficulties, not to mention centuries of conflict and mutual distrust, to overcome before streamlining Europe’s visa process. There’s little reason to expect Africa to have it any easier. And cutting bureaucratic red tape is but one of the challenges to boosting African tourism.

But if Africa’s governments can come together and make this work, it could go a long way toward encouraging black Americans to cross the Atlantic Ocean and connect with their African heritage first-hand, something that would greatly benefit African-Americans and Africans alike.

It’s an idea that deserved to be studied — and encouraged.