The KAZA univisa, which allows visitors from 40 countries to travel between Zimbabwe and Zambia using the same document, has been suspended “for the time being” in both countries. This is according to local tour operators.

Mariska Yntema, Product Developer for Jenman Safaris, says the pilot project of the KAZA univisa expired at the end of December. “Discussions are currently under way between the various parties, including the World Bank, which acted as sponsor, to consider the successes as well as loopholes of the project.  They are assessing whether to go ahead as is or to extend the reach of the project to other SADC countries as well.”

According to Yntema, the Zambian Department of Immigration is expecting further news by the end of January. “A public relations official from the Zambian Department of Immigration mentioned that the project would most probably go ahead – the exact implementation is just not confirmed.”

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“I really do hope that it will be reintroduced, because the feedback from our clients in the last year was positive,” says Monika Korn from The Safari Source. She says since the introduction of the univisa, clients had more options. “It was not such a big deal any more if they flew in and out from different airports – Livingstone or Vic Falls, or even Kasane – and I felt that they were more interested to do Chobe day trips (Botswana) or a microlight flight (Zambia) when they were staying on the Zim side in Vic Falls.”

Katja Quasdorf, Product and Marketing Director for Jenman Safaris, says although guests don’t often travel to Zambia and Zimbabwe at the same time, the challenge comes when flights to Victoria Falls are too full. “Then, guests have to fly to Zambia to get to VFA,” she says, adding that paying for a visa twice then becomes a problem. Quasdorf is optimistic, however, that with the new airport, more airlines will fly into VFA, ensuring that there will be enough seats for the season.

The tourism boards of both Zimbabwe and Zambia hadn’t responded to questions from Tourism Update at the time of publication.