Tiff over command tourism

Source: Tiff over command tourism – DailyNews Live

Farayi Machamire      7 July 2017

HARARE – Tourism and Hospitality Industry minister Walter Mzembi and the
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) chief executive, Karikoga Kaseke,  have
differed sharply over plans to launch the Command Tourism programme.

The two have had well-publicised differences in the past.

In the latest clash, Mzembi is against the use of the word “Command” which
he argues is not consistent with the charm offensive that his ministry and
the ZTA have made in trying to reposition the country among best tourist
destinations.

ZTA is a corporate body under the Tourism ministry whose responsibility is
to manage and market Zimbabwe as a leading tourist destination in Africa
and the world at large.

“I was talking to the vice president (Emmerson Mnangagwa) that `why don’t
we introduce Command Tourism?’ We must introduce Command Tourism so that
those who are doing what we don’t want to do, they should stop.

“They will be commanded to stop,” Kaseke told delegates at the
Hlanganani/Sanganai 10th anniversary in Bulawayo last month that plans
were underway to introduce Command Tourism.

“Those who are not doing what they are supposed to be doing, they must be
commanded to do it.

“It’s an idea you can laugh at, but I am serious when I talk about Command
Tourism because that is the issue,” he added.

His proposed tourism model seeks to ape the government’s Command
Agriculture that is aimed at improving food security and promoting self
sustenance among local farmers.

Mnangagwa – who is spearheading the scheme – has said it aims to ensure
the country’s food self-sufficiency.

But Mzembi took the unusual step of highlighting Kaseke’s missteps on his
proposed Command Tourism policy at the launch of the Economic Development
in Africa Report 2017 in Harare on Wednesday.

“We don’t quite listen to each other that is why someone was advocating
for Command Tourism and I said `please don’t use that word here, in
tourism we charm’ . . . people come because we are attractive,” said
Mzembi is a thinly-disguised jibe at Kaseke.

Zimbabwe expects tourist arrivals to increase in 2017 to 2,2 million,
according to Parliament’s Budget Office, helping the recovery of a fragile
economy as the country enjoys a third straight record year for tourism
boom.

Tourism is an important component of the Zimbabwean economy and a key
source of hard currency.