Harare — Zimbabwe and Zambia will pool resources to rebrand shared tourism facilities.

In an interview on Sunday, the permanent secretaries of the tourism ministries of the two countries said they had found it better to work together than to rely on private investors. The shared facilities are mainly those in Victoria Falls and at other points along the Zambezi River.

Zimbabwe's Dr Sylvester Maunganidze said: "We need a paradigm shift in the perception of the World Heritage Site status as this has not done much good in improving tourism revenues.

"What do we get from these beautiful facilities the whole year? A mere US$25 000 annually for that status. "We need to develop our countries and let tourists pay us directly for the products. "He said the current set-up allowed foreigners more leeway than locals in determining developments at WHS such as Victoria Falls.

"Zimbabwe and Zambia should define their development agenda. We don't like situations like that one of June 5, 2010, which saw Unesco specifying lower Zambezi as a Biosphere Reserve without considering our views," he said. Canada charges foreigners as much as US$350 to tour the Niagara Falls while they are charged just US$20 to get to Victoria Falls. "If we don't rebrand, package and market our sites, we will be like a boy winking at a girl in the dark and expecting a response," Dr Maunganidze.

Dr Maunganidze said the name "Victoria Falls" was now outdated. He said the revamping process would involve proposals to move museums and monuments currently under the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry. The Permanent Secretary in Zambia's Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Ministry, Mrs Lillian Kapulu, said she would recommend the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding proposed by Zimbabwe in 2006.

"I'm glad that the 15th session of the Zimbabwe-Zambia Joint Commission has the MoU on the agenda," she said. Provisions of the MoU include co-operation on tourism transfers, joint promotion and research and marketing among other areas. Zambia Tourism Board member Mr Matongo Matamwandi said: "Branding is not a reality; it's a perception. There is need to repackage our tourism products so that we yield the much-needed products.

"Barack Obama is now the US President because a team of people sat down and repackaged him and created the typical presidential perception around him. "The nine-member Zambian delegation arrived in Zimbabwe on Saturday and left yesterday.