Shepherd Nyaruwata, the executive director of the Regional Tourism Organisation for Southern Africa, said the troubled Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) remained a worry for tourists, but the return to peace in Angola had raised hopes of stability in the region.

"There is a need to spruce up the image of the region," he added.

"There are a number of positives, such as the 2010 soccer World Cup, resolution of conflicts and the fact that the region has witnessed a smooth transition of power in countries that have held elections like Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia."

South Africa won the right last May to host the 2010 World Cup, the first to be held on the African continent. World soccer's ruling body, Fifa, chose South Africa to host the finals ahead of Morocco and Egypt.

Nyaruwata said inadequate air links within the Southern African Development Community (SADC), limited plane seats to the region, poor infrastructure and a lack of a common front to promote tourism in the region had hampered growth.

Laws preventing free movement of people in the region were also a problem. SADC has spent the past eight years discussing the introduction of single visa arrangements for the region, but security issues and financial considerations for some countries had prevented an agreement.

About 13.5 million tourists visited the 13-member SADC bloc in 2003, and the figure nudged up to 14 million last year. Only 20 percent of these tourists were from outside Africa, Nyaruwata said.

Those from overseas were mainly from Germany, France, Britain, Japan, North America and Australia.

Nyaruwata expected tourist numbers to peak at 20 million during 2010, with some soccer fans going on from the tournament in South Africa to visit neighbouring states such as Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Angola.

Zambia and Mozambique have said they would build new stadiums to persuade teams to train there ahead of the 2010 tournament.

The SADC comprises Angola, Botswana, the DRC, Lesotho, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Visitors to South Africa accounted for more than 50 percent (6.5 million) of SADC's tourists in 2003. Despite economic and political upheaval in the recent past, Zimbabwe was in second place with 1.5 million, although that was sharply lower than the 1.86 million visitors in 2000.

SADC tourism receipts totalled $6.4 billion (R38.4 billion at current exchange rates) in 2003, from $5.1 billion in 2001, Nyaruwata said.

Zimbabwe's problems had been a boon for Zambia, which had seen a steady rise in tourists to its side of the fabled Victoria Falls, Nyaruwata said.

Zambia has also gained from increased tobacco and maize production thanks to white Zimbabwean farmers who left their country in the aftermath of President Robert Mugabe's campaign to redistribute their land to landless black people.

Nyaruwata said China was likely to emerge as the biggest tourism market for the region in the next five years.

"A number of countries in the region have signed 'approved destination status' with China, which helps a great deal because it enables us to market aggressively in that country, especially South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mauritius. We see China becoming a large market in the next half decade," he said.

from Business Report