Tourist arrivals into Zimbabwe have decreased drastically with the cholera outbreak that is still ravaging the country, New Ziana reported on Wednesday.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said the disease has resulted in most tourists canceling and postponing their trips to Zimbabwe.

Without providing figures, Kaseke said the cancellations were very high compared to last year. "A number of cancellations and postponement of pre-booked reservations have been increasing due to the cholera pandemic in the country," he said.

He said although the sector had not reported any cases of cholera in its resort areas, most countries had nevertheless issued warnings to their citizens against traveling to Zimbabwe.

Some countries including China have issued travel warnings and some have issued outright bans to visit Zimbabwe until the pandemic stabilizes, he said.

He said affected areas were, however, being isolated to ensure safety of tourists and to minimize the spread of the deadly disease. "We have isolated the cholera affected areas and we are educating the market to reduce the spread of the disease," he said.

At its peak, tourism was among Zimbabwe's leading foreign currency earners but a cocktail of challenges in recent years has affected arrivals thereby limiting its contribution to national growth.

According to the latest report from the World Health Organization, the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe has claimed more than 2,000 lives since the start of the outbreak in August. A WHO spokesman in Geneva said the number of diagnosed cases had nearly reached 40,000.

UN officials said lack of clean drinking water and sanitation continues to be a problem, as well as Zimbabwe's crumbling health service.

Source: Xinhua