"We come here to invite more Chinese friends to Zimbabwe, where ancient Chinese set foot several thousands of years ago," Francis Nhema, Zimbabwe's minister of environment and tourism told Xinhua Friday.

Called "Africa's Paradise", Zimbabwe is for the first time to cast its eyes on the Chinese market, said Nhema, head of Zimbabwe' s tourism delegation to China.

This tourism delegation, the biggest in Zimbabwe's history, is composed of both governmental officials and tourism marketing experts.

Besides attending the assembly of the International Tourism Organization in Beijing, their chief task is to introduce and popularize Zimbabwe's amazing natural beauty to the Chinese.

Nhema debuted his China tour by participating in an international tourism culture exhibition that opened in Beijing Friday morning.

"This morning, so many enthusiastic Chinese visitors with great curiosity surrounded our exhibition stand that our brochures soon ran out," the minister said with great pleasure.

He said with confidence that Zimbabwe will be welcomed by Chinese tourists "thanks to its rich historic relics, including Victoria Falls, which is well-known as one of the world's seven natural wonders."

Zimbabwe is also the home to five wild African animals, the elephant, lion, buffalo, leopard, and zebra, said Nhema, adding that Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa are together building the world's largest park for wild animals where the three countries' borders meet.

According to the minister, currently only less than 10,000 Chinese tourists have been to Zimbabwe, which was a very low figure.

With the fast expansion of Asian tourism, more Chinese tourists will choose to travel in Zimbabwe, said Nhema, saying his target is to increase Chinese tourists by five to 10 times.

From this year, a series of tourism promotion activities have been started in China. Nhema said a special tourism office has been set up in the Zimbabwe embassy to China.

Next year, another large-scale tourism delegation from Zimbabwe will visit some of China's big cities, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Hong Kong, to continue the introduction of Zimbabwe 's beautiful natural scenery to China.

Nhema also focused his eyes on China's young college students who are expected to become future force for overseas tourism.@tourism promotion activities will be held in China's universities and colleges in the future.

Zimbabwe is supposed to become an official destination country for Chinese tourists by the end of this year, when Chinese will enjoy more convenience in trips to Zimbabwe.

Nhema welcomes more Chinese investors to his country, especially into the tourism industry which has become the third largest industry of the country.

According to the minister, two Chinese tourist companies have just participated in an international tourism exposition in Zimbabwe, which is the first time to have Chinese companies there, and the two companies have begun to explore tourism programs in Zimbabwe.

"Tourism goes beyond borders, promoting cultural exchange, becoming a tool for peace, enhancing harmony among people and bringing countries, cultures and peoples together," said Nhema. " Human beings should travel around among different places."

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