BA stops Zim flights

suffering as regional and international tourists turn their back on the once popular destination. In 1999, nearly two million people visited Zimbabwe. This figure is thought to have been slashed by 10 times this year.
If the situation does not get better soon, it could be many years before the tourism industry recovers, Shingi Munyeza, managing director of Zimbabwe Sun, the largest hotel operator in the country told The Zimbabwean.
“The downturn really started at the beginning of last year… There has been bad political press coming out of this country… Our image has suffered dramatically over last 18 months,” he said.
John Robertson, a economist said: “If it goes on for more than a year, we will see a lot of the tourism industry actually collapsing and it will be many years before they can revive that part of the industry,” he said.
Zimbabwe was once one of Africa’s most prosperous countries, its economy fuelled by rich mineral resources and agricultural exports, such as tobacco.
The number of attacks on white-owned farms and other assets has crippled the tobacco and mining sectors. Together these would usually account for half of all exports.
Zimbabwe’s vital export sectors have been crippled by unrest and political interference, starving the country of hard currency income.