Lubinda fires salvo at SA over yellow fever
FOREIGN Affairs and Tourism Minister Given Lubinda yesterday attacked South Africa for imposing yellow fever certificate requirements on Zambians despite an all-clear by the World Health organisation (WHO).
Mr Lubinda says travel restrictions relating to yellow fever have negatively affected the growth of tourism in southern Africa and Zambia with numbers gradually dropping as tourist’s eye ‘less stressful’ routes.
The minister was speaking yesterday in an interview with ZANIS in Grand Baie, Mauritius.
He said he will use the 48th Regional Tourism Organisation in Southern Africa Conference (RETOSA), which opens tomorrow in Mauritius, to engage other tourism ministers over the issue.
Mr Lubinda said Zambia’s tourism had suffered because of South Africa’s demand that all people who transit through South Africa to Zambia and vice-versa must have yellow fever certificates.
He expressed disappointment that even when the area affected by yellow fever was a very small location in the north-western part of the country and the rest of Zambia has been declared a yellow fever-free zone by the World Health Organisation, the South African authorities have continued to demand a yellow fever certificate.
Mr Lubinda called for the engagement of the RETOSA board meeting to package the region’s tourism in such a way that tourists who come to Mauritius must also come to Zambia.
He added that what Mauritius, South Africa or Mozambique sell was not necessarily what Zambia sells, adding that the region cannot increase tourist arrivals with cumbersome cross-border complications.
The minister is also scheduled to meet with the Mauritius Foreign Affairs minister tomorrow to discuss matters between Mauritius and Zambia.
The meeting of the SADC Ministers Responsible for Tourism and the 48th RETOSA Board Meeting officially opens tomorrow at the Grand Baie International Conference Centre in Mauritius and is represented by all the member states of SADC with exception of Madagascar who are still on suspension. – ZAMBIA NEWS & INFORMATION SERVICE.
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