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Victoria Falls receives vaccine supply for tourism promotion

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

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Zimbabwe’s Victoria Falls usually witnesses a lot of tourists who come to view the roaring Zambezi River as it tumbles down more than 350 feet (108 meters) to the gorge below, creating a mist that is visible from miles away.

The Smoke That Thunders – the English translation of what the waterfall is called in the Sotho language – is still mighty, but the COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the number of visitors to a bare minimum. Ordinarily, Victoria Falls attracts 350,000 tourists a year, but their numbers have dropped to almost none due to travel restrictions.

Hotel occupancy rates dropped into the single digits during 2020 and the first half of 2021, and some hotels were forced to shut down, according to the Hospitality Association of Zimbabwe.

To promote Victoria Falls as a safe destination, President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has made vaccines available to all 35,000 residents of the town that shares a name with the waterfall. An estimated 60% of the people in the town have been vaccinated with either the Sinopharm or Sinovac vaccines, both from China.

Countrywide, more than 1.8 million people, slightly more than 12% of Zimbabwe’s population, have received their first dose, while more than 900,000 people are fully vaccinated with two doses.

Empowered by the vaccination rate in Victoria Falls, the government last week reopened two land borders linking the town to the neighboring countries of Zambia, Namibia and Botswana. Travelers with proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test will be allowed to enter.

Victoria Falls was where Zimbabwe recorded its first COVID-19 case in March 2020, mainly due to its high number of international visitors. All adult Zimbabweans are now eligible; however, due to extensive supply shortages, the lines for jabs are long and many people are disappointed.

Restaurants in Victoria Falls are serving sit-in customers, something that is prohibited in the rest of Zimbabwe, which still has tight restrictions due to the current surge driven by the delta variant of the corona virus. Close to 90% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths in the current surge are of unvaccinated people, as per a recent report by the Ministry of Health. Although huge numbers of tourists have not yet returned, the reopening of Victoria Falls is indeed a relief for a town that survives largely on tourism.

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