BULAWAYO - The Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa (RETOSA) has elected Zimbabwe to hold the rotating post of the organisations chair, for the next two years.Tourism and Hospitality minister, Engineer Walter Muzembi will hold the post.
RETOSA is a regional tourism body whose mandate is to promote and market tourism in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) in collaboration with the public and private sector.
The organisation was formed in 1997 and with a mandate to promote and market regional tourism in collaboration with the public and private sector.
RETOSA is currently working on pushing for free movement of goods and a Uni-Visa. In a statement, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), said this was a major milestone and would assist the countrys efforts to re-brand itself as a viable and safe tourism destination.
This indicates that fellow African countries have a lot of confidence in us to promote and market tourism on behalf of the SADC region, reads part of the statement.
ZTA said the chairing of RETOSA would give the country a huge lift in promoting local tourism products and the region at large especially at a critical time when the FIFA 2010 world cup is on its doorstep.
Commentators in the tourism sector described the election as a milestone.
This allows the country to develop decisions that will integrate Southern Africa and improve bilateral relations between member sates, said Council for Tourism president, Emmanuel Fundira.
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