Zimbabwe's government is proposing a special Fifa World Cup visa to facilitate travel during the soccer showpiece in June, the SABC reported on Monday. Proposals included a special permit to allow travel between South Africa and Zimbabwe and a complete suspension of visa requirements for visitors from the 32 participating nations. This as concern grows that the tourism and commercial spin-offs from South Africa's hosting of the tournament may not be as high as initially predicted.
Zimbabwe's Tourism Minister Walter Mzembi said: "The arrivals have been revised down almost to about 280 000 or so, starting from an all high of 450 000. It affects us here as well". "But I can tell you, if a major promotional campaign had been done in Africa, we would have exceeded those 450 000 figures," Mzembi was quoted as saying. It might not be too late, he said. "We need to deal with South Africa's ports of entry which will open up South Africa to the countries up north."
