Zimbabwe outlines plans for 'Disneyland in Africa'
The Victoria Falls resort town will host the multi-million dollar complex
Zimbabwe plans to build a "Disneyland in Africa" at the world famous Victoria Falls to boost tourism, a government minister has told the BBC.
The government would spend more than $300m (£193m) on the theme park, said Tourist Minister Walter Mzembi.
Zimbabwe is trying to rebuild its tourism industry after a decade of conflict and hyperinflation.
President Robert Mugabe was elected for a seventh term in peaceful but disputed elections last month.
Zimbabwe is not leveraging the Victoria Falls enough, Mr Mzembi told the BBC on Tuesday, describing it as a "sleeping giant".
"It's a wake-up call for us...we must build a new tourism facility with an impact," he said.
"We think it should be modelled along the size and the kind of vision that is on Disneyland, including hotels, entertainment parks, restaurants, conferencing facilities. This is the vision and we need people who can run with it."
This is truly batshit crazy I guess $300 million US gives huge opportunities for all the Crocodiles to further enrich themselves. Victoria Falls came close to losing it's World Heritage Site status in 2010.
One of Africa’s most famous landmarks, Victoria Falls, is in danger of losing its status as a world heritage site following the construction of a restaurant and curio shop in the adjacent rainforest, which has sparked loud protests from Zimbabwean environmentalists.
Unesco first listed the falls as a world heritage site in 1989. Its status came under threat in 2007 when the United Nations agency accused Zimbabwe of “mismanagement and overdevelopment” of the site.
“A world heritage site is governed by very strict laws and, if they are transgressed, Unesco certainly has the right to revoke the status — Once again there is a very real possibility of that happening,” said Hewat.
Mr Mzembi earlier told Zimbabwe's official news agency New Ziana that the government wanted to create a free zone with a banking centre "where even people who do not necessarily live in Zimbabwe can open bank accounts" .
Why would anyone in their right mind open a bank account in Zimbabwe.
He announced the plans at the UN World Tourism Organisation general assembly, which Zimbabwe is co-hosting with Zambia.
The decision to award the conference to Zimbabwe was condemned by UN Watch, an independent human rights group based in Geneva, citing reports of human rights abuses and election rigging.
"The notion that the UN should spin this country as a lovely tourist destination is, frankly, sickening," UN Watch head Hillel Neuer said.
Exactly. Somewhat hilariously Zimbabwe have been in hot water over the falls before.
Tourism and Hospitality Minister Engineer Walter Mzembi has said.
Eng Mzembi said only God could delist the Victoria Falls Rainforest from being one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World.
“No individual or grouping can delist it or downgrade it. It is only God who can delist Victoria Falls Rainforest as a natural wonder if the world comes to an end. Fortunately, the world has not ended and therefore we still have the Rainforest as a natural wonder. God as He pleases when the world comes to an end may create the Rainforest somewhere, but for all I know it will be back in Zimbabwe,” said Eng Mzembi.
He was wrong then and he appears not to have learnt from it.
The government already has plans to expand the Victoria Falls airport, saying it will invest about $150m in the project.
In the first quarter of this year, Zimbabwe's tourism authority said the country registered a 17% increase in visitors.
If the country remains stable, it says, tourism is set to contribute 15% to the country's GDP.
Over the past decade, Zimbabwe recorded the world's highest inflation with its economy in virtual collapse. However, a power-sharing deal reached after an acrimonious election in 2008 helped to stabilise the economy.
Yeah and that situation has just changed for the worse. Victoria Falls doesn't need a theme park to bring back tourists. Mugabe and his bunch of merry murders are the problem not the falls.
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