The Sunday News
THE Zimbabwe Tourism Authority is working on taking the carnival concept to other cities throughout the country, with a Bulawayo carnival on the cards, an official said.
ZTA chief executive, Mr Karikoga Kaseke, said there were plans to hold a carnival in Bulawayo with the aim of holding three carnivals in the country in addition to the Harare and Victoria Falls carnivals.
“We have been thinking about regional carnivals and Bulawayo is definitely going to host one maybe next year. Our vision is that in about five years, we have a total of six carnivals with the addition of Masvingo, Gweru and Mutare,” he said.
Mr Kaseke said the Bulawayo and Victoria Falls carnivals could be organised by a private player.
In line with this development, the ZTA renamed the event from Zimbabwe International Carnival to Harare International Carnival so that when it is held in other towns it would be named after that particular place.
Speaking on the second edition of the Harare International Carnival and the glitches faced, Mr Kaseke said the whole concept was still a learning process.
Mr Kaseke was responding to questions of poor organisation of some activities and the cancellation of other events like the carnival gospel show.
It was apparent that most people were not aware of side activities and thought the carnival was just a street party.
“These activities are being organised by promoters who came to us saying they wanted to do something for the carnival, we have no reason to deny any person the right to contribute to the carnival as it is not our event but for everyone. At ZTA we nurture ideas to benefit the tourism industry.
However, this is a lesson that in future we have to go through a vigorous vetting process to see the capacity of organisers in order to avoid a repeat of these mistakes,” said Mr Kaseke.
Mr Kaseke said the participation of the Notting Hill carnival group from the United Kingdom was a sign that Zimbabwe was winning the war against travel bans and a big step in an effort to mend relations with the British.
“We are happy with this re-engagement process. The participation of the Notting Hill Carnival group is a big step for us and it says a lot about Zimbabwe as a tourist destination. We are winning the war. The fact that we could bring three groups which are among the world’s top five is a big step,” he said.
The three groups include Trinidad and Tobago which had a total of 45 people, Notting Hill which had nine as well as the renowned Brazilian Samba which consisted of 12 people.
He said it was, however, unfair to compare Zimbabwe to countries that have well established carnivals like Trinidad and Tobago who started in 1871. This is Zimbabwe’s second edition.
In a separate interview ZTA chief operating officer, Mr Givemore Chidzidzi, said there was more that could and should have been done to raise awareness on the side activities that people were not aware of.
“We should have started earlier advertising side activities though some events were closed kind of events which required an invitation like the Bira held in Chivhu. This carnival consisted of both public events and private ones with venues suiting the particular event,” he said.
Speaking on what the tourism authority should do to help Zimbabweans understand the essence of the carnival, Mr Chidzidzi said all stakeholders should be on board as the concept had economic benefits that should be apparent to everyone besides being about ensuring 100 percent gross happiness.
He said striving to be a carnival economy meant this concept should create employment; see hotel occupancy increasing as well as increasing revenue in the country.
“The carnival is a full time job within the ZTA. We have a board of trustees for the carnival and these past two editions have been a learning curve. It will take us four to five years to reach where we want to be hence our appeal is for the corporate world to embrace this concept and realise the opportunities available,” said Mr Chidzidzi.
He urged hotels to create packages in line with the event and people to be innovative and create business for themselves from the carnival.
The carnival ran from 16 to today under the theme ‘‘Celebrating our Diversity’’ and foreign participants included Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Egypt, Malawi, Namibia, Italy, Ethiopia, Zambia, Botswana, Brazil and the UK.
