Confusion over Zim park fees

BY the middle of January no decision had yet been reached about the entry charges for Zimbabwe's National Parks. Last July entry fees for visitors were hiked without warning from US$5 to US$20, leaving the tourism industry in turmoil and resulting in National Parks within a few days agreeing to revert to the US$5 charge until 1 January 2000. At the same time the Ministry of Mines, Environment and Tourism and the National Parks said that "intensive consultations with all players concerned" would be held in the remaining five months of 1999 and that the new agreed charges would be effective from the first day of the new millennium. It would seem that five months was not long enough to make a decision. Travel Now contacted the Zimbabwe Council for Tourism (ZCT), who have been doing all they can to help find a solution, and asked the million-dollar question: If no decision has been reached, what are visitors being charged at this moment? "We cannot establish that as it would mean contacting every national park in the country, which is not an easy matter. With no directive given to them, it seems that each park has decided itself what to charge!" Of similar grave concern, hunting licences are not being issued at present as those applied for have been said "not to comply with requirements". With the hunting season due to start on March 1, the dire effects on this part of the tourism industry are impossible to estimate. When contacting the National Parks Travel Now was told that there wasn't anybody available who was "qualified" to respond to a request for an explanation. (Mary Ann Parker)