Harare — Indian ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Venkatesan Ashok said on Tuesday his embassy is in discussion with various stakeholders in the tourism industry to explore untapped opportunities that the two countries can exploit.

Ashok told New Ziana that consultations with the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority had already been done while meetings with other relevant players were underway.

He said Zimbabwe had a number of attractive sites such as the mighty Victoria Falls and the Great Zimbabwe, which had great potential to lure thousands of visitors from India every year.

"We are looking for players that want to work with us market Zimbabwe in India," Ashok said, adding a few Indians knew about the numerous attractions in the country.

"The tourism sector is a huge industry we can both exploit. It has great potential to benefit the two countries and strengthen the already existing strong bond of friendship," he added.

Ashok said players in the tourism sector were also free to approach the embassy and work with it in marketing the country.

He said once consultations were through, parties would arrange familiarisation tours for Indian tour operators and relevant authorities to come and sample the Zimbabwean products so that they could market the country back home.

A similar tour would also be arranged for local stakeholders to visit India to market the country.

The numerous attractive sites found in Zimbabwe had the ability to lure Indian actors from renowned Indian film city of Bollywood to come and shoot their movies in the country, Ashok said.

"Such an opportunity will enable the country to get a positive media attention," he said.

Following the land reform programme in 2000, Western countries launched a negative media onslaught on the country, which resulted in a sharp decline in tourist arrivals. -- New Ziana.