The Sunday Mail
NATIONAL auditions for the recently rebranded Miss Tourism begin in a fortnight amid revelations that organisers have secured a major sponsor to bankroll various stages of the pageant.
Local pageants have in recent years been dogged by lack of financial support, which has led to failure to produce a model in the mould of Angeline Musasiwa, the last local girl to be highly-placed in the Miss World rankings, finishing a commendable fourth in 1994. Financial challenges seem not to be worrying Miss Tourism Zimbabwe organisers this time around.
Already the pageant has received endorsement from reputable sponsors, among them Traverze, Meikles, Network Que, Black Opal, Gary Thompson and Associates, The Events Company, MABEL360 and DAYSMAN.
But information reaching this publication suggests that South Africa-based Zimbabwean business mogul, Justice Maphosa of Bigtime Strategic Group, is going to bankroll the pageant. Maphosa is the brains behind the recently held and highly successful four-day Gwanda Gospel Festival. The Bigtime Strategic Group boss leading a group of businesspeople from Zimbabwe and South Africa has since pledged to work with Government in a number of key investment areas, particularly in Gwanda.
However, Miss Tourism Zimbabwe spokesperson Alson Darikayi could not shed light on this development.
He preferred to play his cards close to his chest.
“We have attracted a lot of corporate interest both within and outside Zimbabwe and that also includes interest for participation. It is true that we now have a major sponsor for all our activities but we will officially disclose the name of the corporate partner including supporting sponsors later,” said Darikayi, adding, “For the first time we will have a category for the disabled. We want to live to our reputation of being the mother of pageants within the tourism industry.”
In a fortnight organisers are set to begin national auditions to select contestants that will take part in the Miss Tourism Zimbabwe finals to be held on November 25. The auditions to be held in every province will begin on September 19 in the capital and end on September 30 in Zvishavane.
Seventeen girls selected from the national auditions will then get into boot camp next month. In the camp they will undergo training in public relations and media management, grooming, fitness and general tourism issues.
A scorecard will be used during training with each model expected to score certain marks for her to qualify for the finals.
But two of the finalists will be dropped since the finals will only accommodate 15 contestants. But pundits question what will happen should a greater number of the finalists fail to achieve the minimum set targets.
A number of models have proved not to be on the intelligent side. Most of them have on numerous occasions struggled to answer simple questions in front of millions of viewers despite having rehearsed for the show.
“The selection process of finalists will be thorough and judging from the standards we set we are likely going to have stiff competition since these ladies will all be academics that can hold their own at any given moment,” said the spokesperson.
“We have secured a mansion in Borrowdale Brooke where the ladies will be staying during the boot camp. We are trying to avoid scandals associated with booking in hotels hence we chose this place.”
Organisers of the event are expected to this week launch a reality television show that will be showing Miss Tourism Zimbabwe preparations including events that will be taking place in the boot camp.
Moreover, designers to work with the finalists have already been chosen. The designers will be responsible for creating a fantasy dress and an evening gown for the models.
“… the process of selecting top designers around the country is now done. Each model will have her own designer hence we came up with a list of 15 established and upcoming designers. Also, we already have an official chef, beauticians and fitness trainers for the final event,” revealed Darikayi.
According to the Miss Tourism Zimbabwe official, entertainment will be headlined by an international act supported by local artistes. Furthermore, three international television channels have sent proposals to capture the event live.
“We want to make Miss Tourism Zimbabwe the most trusted pageant in the country, the most popular and a scandal free event thus we are not leaving anything to chance.”
Darikayi also revealed that the first and second princesses will get a chance to compete in events to do with Brand Zimbabwe promotion within and outside the country. The first princess will be Miss Agro Tourism working in partnership with Zimbabwe Agricultural Society.
In this scope, the beauty queen will deal with issues to do with Agro Tourism while the second princess will be Miss City Tourism.
The latter will be active in all towns and cities in the country advocating for clean environment and water, proper infrastructure among other elements crucial to humanity’s wellbeing.
Miss Tourism Zimbabwe came into being following the rebranding of Miss Carnival early this year.
