Zimbabwe wants to re-negotiate a preferential tourism pact with China to be better positioned to attract Chinese tourists, a cabinet minister said.

Zimbabwe considers China a key tourist source market, as the Chinese have surpassed the Americans to become the top spending international tourists in the world.

But only 5,000 Chinese tourists visited Zimbabwe last year, official figures show. The Zimbabwean government aims to attract 15,000 Chinese tourists annually by 2015.