ZTA defends semi-nude displays

01 Jun, 2014 - 00:06 0 Views
ZTA defends semi-nude displays

The Sunday Mail

CARNIVALOrganisers of the Harare International Carnival (HIC), have defended semi-nude displays that characterised the carnivals street party.
Conservatives who are not comfortable with semi-nudity were irked by the Brazilian Samba girls who where scantily dressed leaving little to imagination.

Last week, chiefs council president, Fortune Charumbira blasted organisers of HIC saying the event diluted the country’s traditional culture .
However, Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive Karikoga Kaseke said there was no thing wrong with the displays.

“ We do not invite those countries to come and act or behave like us. We need to see their cultures and that is why we invited the Samba girls and others.” he said

“Its not like the girls were nude or something Underneath, their costumes was  a thin -skin-coloured costume so there is no nudity or semi-nudity to talk about,” he added.

Move from the controversy, the street gig billed the ‘greatest party in Southern Africa’, no doubt thrilled many.
Local and international delegates gelled to deliver a carnival that was much better than the inaugural one.

For 10 days, Zimbabweans from all walks of life were treated to all sorts of carnival amusement, ranging from music, dance, food and comedy.

But it was the Carnival Street Party which proved to be the climax of the wingding as thousands of people thronged the streets of Harare.
The street party brought together various groups of people. It cut across generation, gender, race, ethnic and class divide as all converged in unison. The ultimate objective was to unwind and have fun.

And fun they had.
The streets were filled for hours, not with cars but with people on the pinnacle of the jamboree.
And events that bring pomp and zest of this magnitude have been few if not non-existent on the domestic entertainment calendar.
An undisputable fact is that the carnival left lasting memories for the nation.

However, it should be noted that though the second edition was a significant improvement from the first, there is still room to further improve the event.
Some elements of the carnival still need to be fine-tuned for it to reach its full potential.

National appeal and visibility
The carnival demonstrated that there is need for the organisers of the event to panel-beat their marketing strategy. For instance, the Miss Carnival Queen kick-started proceedings of the carnival and attracted a favourable response, that should have been followed up by an aggressive hype campaign.

Advertising of events (most of which were held at night) in the media alone was not enough. There is need for the responsible authorities to come up with a command centre at a strategic place in town, say, First Street, that will be responsible for passing on information pertaining to the carnival.

Supporting this should be various acts, like the brass band that was put in First Street during the build-up to the Carnival Street Party on May 23. These groups should play non-stop during the day for the full duration of the carnival to help remind the public of the event. It was difficult for most to appreciate the carnival’s night events, many only did so during the street procession.

To add to this, outreach programmes involving visits/acts to various residential areas to build up momentum should be organised.
Also, by virtue of its branding, the HIC appears to be a capital event.

However, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi argued the event was national. He pointed out that it was open to everyone.

“This carnival is a national event. We are looking at bringing a similar affair to different provinces after we perfect this one (HIC),” noted Minister Mzembi.

Costs of organising HIC
Last week, Mr Karikoga Kaseke, revealed that the carnival had cost US$913 000 to organise.
Mr Kaseke said the success of the event was made possible by the involvement of the corporate sector. The ZTA official indicated that the authority was still to receive more than three quarters of the funds that they were promised by Government for the event.

“Most of the costs for organising the carnival were met by the corporate sector. Government only gave us US$50 000 from the US$200 000 that we were promised, we are still to receive the remaining balance,” he said.

He added that the funds they obtained from Government were used to host visitors. However, the authority had devised a working plan to cut down the number of hosted visitors in the next five years, he said.

He explained that in the next two years, the number of hosted visitors will drop by 50 percent. The country would meet half of the cost of invited groups while the remaining half meet their own costs.

“For the record, the funds that we get from Government are used to pay accommodation (which includes bed and breakfast) for some of our visitors.

“What we do not do is invite delegates and pay their airfares.
“Hosting visitors is part of the culture in any organisation, we cannot stop the concept but can only reduce the figures that are hosted,” he said.

Ultimately, ZTA said it hoped to reduce the number of hosted visitors to as low as 25 percent in the next five years.
Some of the people that were hosted by the ZTA include a group of about 25 people from Trinidad and Tobago out of the 57 that visited and 11 Malawian visitors.

Benefit
While it is a fact that carnivals have become a major driver of economic growth across the globe, some have been sceptical on whether there are any financial gains from the local carnival. Proponents of this school of thought believe the prevailing economic situation does not support the hosting of such an event.

The ZTA is of a different view. It contends that the jamboree has various upstream and downstream benefits.
“Various sub-committees are still calculating the amount of revenue that was generated during the course of the event. But I am certain that business was boosted in various sectors of the economy that includes retail, transport and food outlets.
“Random surveys conducted by our teams revealed that at least every adult individual that took part on the street carnival used an average of US$10 while highest spenders used about US$70.

If calculated by the estimated number of people that turned up for the street procession, the amount would add up to huge sums of money,” said Mr Kaseke.

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