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Brenda Phiri Entertainment Reporter
Zimbabwe Tourism Authority Chief Executive Officer Karikoga Kaseke has expressed disappointment over the state of affairs at the Miss Heritage World pageant. Kaseke said the pageant, which failed to take place as scheduled last weekend, was marred by disorganisation that was tarnishing the country’s image.
Contestants and attendees were turned away from the venue of the beauty contest – Harare International Conference Centre – on the night of the show under unclear circumstances.
“The initiative of promoting heritage tourism was commendable one and we would have assisted the organisers if they had approached us in time.
“I am disappointed over the humiliation that the finalists faced. Some of the participants were complaining about not being given adequate meals. Such a situation portrays a negative image of the country,” he said.
Kaseke, who was returning from Malaysia on the night of the show, said it was critical for a pageant of such magnitude to have strong support from the corporate sector.
“When people see models on the ramp, they think it is easy to organise pageants but it is not. It takes a lot of work from the planning stage.
“There are a lot of irregularities in this case. There are representatives from different continents and everything should have been done professionally.”
On the way forward, Kaseke said he was going to seek audience with the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry to do damage control.
“It is our job to market the country as a tourism destination.
“Because of that, it is not good for us to be silent when things like this are happening.
“We are therefore going to engage the tourism ministry so that we can come up with a remedy. We do not want the contestants to go back with such a bad picture.
“They will not remember names of people that messed up but they will remember that they were shortchanged in Zimbabwe,” he said.
The organisers of Miss Heritage World said the contest has been postponed to this week.
However, chaiman of the pageant Tare Munzara did not respond to questions from this publication yesterday saying they would release an official statement in due course.
Online Reporter