Intwasa, other festivals targeted for domestic tourism push
AS Zimbabwe’s tourism sector tries to get back on its feet, Government will prioritise the revival of festivals like Intwasa, Boli Mhlangulen and Nyami Nyami in a bid to promote domestic tourism.
The three festivals are held in Bulawayo, Chiredzi and Kariba respectively. Like other players in the arts, festivals have had a rough 2020, with some cancelling completely while a few others have gone virtual.
Zimbabwe’s tourism industry, like others around the globe, has taken a hit with flights grounded and international travel curtailed as countries try to curb the spread of Covid-19.
As the world opens up gradually, tourism authorities around the world are looking at ways to entice their own populations to visit popular local attractions.
Speaking in Parliament last week, the Minister of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Mangaliso Ndlovu said that the three festivals will be vital in attempts to lure the domestic tourist.
“Revival of Local Festivals will also go a long way in promoting domestic tourism. My Ministry together with other stakeholders, has been promoting and reviving such festivals as the Boli Mhlangulen in Chiredzi, Intwasa in Bulawayo and the Nyami Nyami Festivals in Kariba, among others.
“These mainly showcase and promote local cultures through music, dance and our local cuisine. As people travel for such festivals, it helps promote domestic tourism,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu said his ministry was also devising digital strategies to market the country’s major tourist destinations.
“We are also promoting digital content creation so that we capture numerous tourist attractions and experiences throughout the country including those that are relatively
GOVERNMENT has approved the partial reopening of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs), with players in low risk sectors given the greenlight to resume operations.
Players in the arts will have to apply for permission from the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe ( NACZ) and they will only be allowed to resume operations if council is satisfied that they are able to adhere strictly to set Covid19 transmission prevention protocols and the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
The sectors that have been given the greenlight to reopen are exhibitions in galleries and museums, book launches, film production, raining centres cum schools of arts, arts and culture centres visual art studios, music recording studios, drive-in cinema, studio recording for online publication and theatre houses for drama, dance, movies and spoken word.
The SOPs for those that will be resuming operations include sanitisation at the entrance at entry and exit points, temperature checks, Wearing of face masks and shields by patrons and staff, a register of all attendees for particular events, social distancing in set up and activities, sanitisation of physical objects/ equipment within arts spaces, fumigation of premises before and after usage, audiences to conform to the 100 allowed for gatherings, selling of tickets in advance to control numbers, sale of alcohol at the venues, staff regular health checks for the testing of Covid-19 and the immediate closure of an arts space in case of Covid-19 cases detection.
In a statement, NACZ director Nicholas Moyo said that while players in the arts would be heaving a unknown to communicate on various social media platforms and improve awareness of tourism products,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu also said that over the next month, the Ministry would be launching various social media campaigns that were meant to sale the beauty of Zimbabwe to locals that have never fully appreciated what is on their doorstep.
“The Ministry, through its parastatal, the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority will, in the next coming month, launch the Domestic Tourism Campaign ZIMbho (#vakatsha) which seeks to revive domestic travel in and around the country.
“Other various hashtags (#knowyourZimbabwe #visitZimbabwe) are also being carried out on the Tourism Lookout show hosted by the ZTA where we profile various tourism destinations around the country to stimulate local travel,” he said.
Minister Ndlovu said the Ministry was in the process of deploying tourism officers from the Ministry to all provinces to champion this cause and also to promote tourism development throughout the country.
Minister Ndlovu also said before Covid-19 hit the country, his Ministry had already started reviving Community Based Tourism Enterprises (CBTEs) which thrive around packaging and promoting our culture, norms and cuisines as tourist attractions.
“This preserves our culture and heritage while allowing communities to be producers of tourism products and earn a living out of tourism. I can tell you of KoMpisi Village in Victoria Falls where schools take their learners to see the traditional ways of doing things which are no longer used these days.
“We are reviving CBTEs throughout the country with international Cooperating Partners such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),” he said.
Arts sector partially opens
collective sigh of relief at news of the partial opening of the sector, it was important to prioritise the health and safety of both practitioners and consumers first.
“After successfully lobbying for the sector’s reopening, the NACZ implores industry players to put the health of practitioners and consumers of CCI products at the forefront of their operations to avoid the sector become a vector in the transmission of the deadly virus. In this regards the NACZ encourages artistes to establish and adhere to the set Covid-19 prevention protocols and Standard Operating Procedures at all times as they reopen their creative spaces,” his statement read.
After six months without much activity, Moyo encouraged artistes to get back in their work spaces and begin creating.
“As the sector is celebrating the relaxation of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions which have seen the CCIs dormant for the past 6 months, NACZ would like to encourage players in the sector to take advantage of the relaxation of the lockdown conditions to go back to their creative spaces and engage in serious production for the sector to recover some of the opportunities lost due to the corona virus epidemic,” he said.
Playwright and arts administrator Raisedon Baya welcomed the news of the reopening of the arts sector.
“For us the initial reaction from us is that of excitement because our income comes from people either doing events or creating things and finding platforms to sale them. Its unfortunate that the bigger platforms like musical concerts are still closed but I think the other sectors that are normally sustained by smaller crowds can begin to operate normally. This should bring a lot of excitement to a lot of artistes because not all of us are into big musical concerts,’ he said.