OWN CORRESPONDENT, Harare | Friday 4.15pm.
THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, a parastatal meant to boost the country’s international tourist business, is to confront President Robert Mugabe on his tendency to commandeer state-owned Air Zimbabwe aircraft at short notice, leaving passengers stranded.
A number of industry players, including the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and the Zimbabwe Tourism Council, this week summoned Air Zimbabwe to explain why its domestic flights are constantly being cancelled, resulting in massive inconvenience to tourists booked to destinations such as Kariba, Hwange and Victoria Falls.
The main cause, the airline explained, is that most of the cancellations are caused by chartered flights made by the president.
On Tuesday a flight to Hwange national park, one of the country’s biggest tourist destinations, was cancelled when Mugabe commandeered Air Zimbabwe’s Boeing 737 to take him to Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo to meet President Laurent Kabila.
“It is disheartening because we are never given enough notice. They actually summon the plane a few hours before he takes off leaving us no alternative at all,” an airline source said.
The official said the plane’s insurance did not cover it in a war zone. “Frantic efforts were, however, made to insure the plane for the trip for $30000 which is about Z$1-million,” he said.
The tourism sector and the national airline’s representatives are meeting again this weekend in the country’s prime tourist destination of Victoria Falls to deliberate on the issue. — Zimbabwe Independent