adminand Highlanders, if ongoing negotiations bear fruit.
The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, who successfully brought Brazil into the country last year under its Destination Perception Management Project, yesterday said they had already engaged Barcelona and that there are now negotiating appearance fees.
“We having been negotiating with Barcelona to come to Zimbabwe and play with two of our greatest teams, possibly Dynamos and Highlanders. We will finalise which teams.
“At first they wanted US$3 million as appearance fees and after negotiations they came down to US$1 million. We now want them to go down a bit and we are confident they will.
“Initially we had wanted them to come during their off-season but it is almost ending. If we can’t bring them this year, we will have to bring them next year during their off-season. The truth is, we must bring them and we will. They are a football brand of world reckon,” ZTA chief executive Karikoga Kaseke, told journalists yesterday.
If successful, two local football teams will have a dance with the world’s best players and Zimbabwe will be among the few countries in the world to have hosted Barcelona. Under the perception management programme, ZTA has brought an array of internationally acclaimed musicians such as Joe Thomas, Kanda Bongo Man and Akon, among others and all have proved that Zimbabwe is among the safest tourism destinations in the world.
Online Reporter