THE Hotel, Catering Association Workers Union of Zambia (HCAWUZ) has called on Government to suspend visas fees this year to boost tourism in Zambia.

HCAWUZ president Mubiana Sitwala said in an interview yesterday the Government should lift visa fees for the period of the World Cup to ensure that more tourists come to Zambia.

"Currently, we have no infrastructure like stadiums to participate in the hosting of the World Cup, hence the need for us to market the country and woo more tourists during that time," Mr Sitwala said.

He said lifting visa fees would boost the tourism industry and ensure economic development in the country this year.

Mr Sitwala urged the Government to allow nationalities from countries like India to get visas at entry posts for the World Cup period.

On the resolutions of the union this year, Mr Sitwala said his organisation would this year ensure that all companies which had not unionised their workers did so.

The union was also committed to ensuring that casualisation in the tourism industry came to an end.

"At this moment, casualisation in the industry is one of our greatest challenges. We want to ensure that our workers are fully employed this year," Mr Sitwala said.

Meanwhile, Mr Sitwala has called on Zesco to minimise power outages as they are negatively affecting the tourism industry.

He said tourists who came for holiday in Zambia were negatively affected when they found power outages.