HARARE – Zimbabwe’s Tourism Ministry has submitted a US$28 million budget to treasury for the sector’s needs during the June World Cup finals in South Africa, at a time when one team participating at the finals has agreed to use Zimbabwe as their base.

Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said on Wednesday the budget had been sent to the Finance Ministry.

“We have submitted a US$28 million budget to enable Zimbabwe to fulfil its objectives before the World Cup in June and it is currently under consideration,” he said.

He added that it was crucial that the funding be provided before the end of this month for some of the projects to be completed on time.

So far, US$1.5 million has been secured from the private sector for the establishment of 15 fan parks across the country.

South Africa will not be able to accommodate about 450 000 visitors expected for the World Cup, opening up an opportunity for neigbouring countries to benefit economically. 

Zimbabwe, expecting economic benefits from the World Cup, has been busy trying to spruce up tourist destinations, hotels and stadiums to lure World Cup teams and visitors.

Mzembi said the government had since agreed with one team that will be taking part in the World Cup 2010 finals to use Zimbabwe as its base while another “brand team” was also considering using the country as its base.

He however could not be drawn into mentioning the names of the two teams citing confidentiality.

The southern African country’s tourism industry is picking up after suffering a downturn in the aftermath of President Robert Mugabe’s chaotic and often violent land redistribution exercise that attracted negative publicity for the country to scare away foreign tourists.

This week Zimbabwe hosted a Tourism investment Conference – that attracted 1 000 delegates from across the world, including the World Tourism Organisation, the Regional Tourist Organisation of Southern Africa, and tourism ministers from African countries including Ghana, Zambia, Sierra Leone and Cameroon – to drum up foreign investment inflows for the tourism industry.

By Zimonline