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Arnold Mutemi in Livingstone, Zambia
The Zimbabwe brand is the biggest winner of co-hosting the United Nations World Tourism Organisation general assembly as global perception about the country will change, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi said yesterday.In an interview, he said the 20th session of the UNWTO general assembly which ended yesterday would bring intangible benefit to the country which can never be measured in monetary terms.
He said no cost could be placed on branding the country.
Minister Mzembi said the week-long event provided an opportunity to correct the wrong image of Zimbabwe portrayed by some western media houses such as CNN and BBC which were targeting President Mugabe.
He said hosting the general assembly was never about making money.
“These are intangible benefits of global branding to which you can fix a dollar price, when people talk about benefit, talking of small things that go to waste within 24 hours. Okay if you managed to sell that’s fair and fine, that’s well and good but it does not amount to what we were seeking to do with this general assembly.
“What is value is the ability to perceptionally change the mindset of the international community about our politics, our governance, about brand Zimbabwe and more importantly about our President whom they have so unfairly packaged there and he is the cornerstone of brand Zimbabwe,” he said
Minister Mzembi said the assembly presented Zimbabwe to show its charming side hidden from the world when President Mugabe delivered speeches at the opening and closing ceremonies of the general assembly.
He said Zimbabwe had been unfairly treated in international perception ratings because of political bias driven by global mainstream media.
“We sought to create an audience with the world for our own President who within the context of brand Zimbabwe had been the target of demonising, misrepresentation and unfair attacks that were now causing collateral damage to the brand. We sought to say let them hear him speak, let them interact with him,” he said.
Meanwhile, the next general assembly will be held in Colombia in 2015 after it beat Cambodia for the right to host the prestigious event.
The decision to take the general assembly was through a ballot vote in which Colombia got 60 votes to Cambodia’s 38.
Delegates have started leaving the country after attending the highly successful general assembly which saw a record number of member states and countries attending, despite attempts to paint Zimbabwe, one of the co-hosts, as an unsafe destination.
One hundred and twenty one member states out of 154 attended the event.
In his closing remarks on Wednesday night, President Mugabe urged the delegates to tell the world the truth about the situation in the country.
Online Reporter