By Daniel Chigundu
ZIMBABWE Tourism Authority (ZTA) says it is going to use the 11 edition of Sanganai/ Hlanganani to honour the late iconic hero of Zimbabwe the late Dr Joshua Nkomo.
Dr Nkomo who was popularly known as “father Zimbabwe became the country’s Vice President from 1987 up to the time of his death in 1999 and was known for being a unifier.
ZTA chief executive Dr Karikoga Kaseke said there was no better time to honour the late hero than through developing and promoting his heritage trails through Sanganai/Hlanganani.
“This year’s Sanganai we are going to provide narratives that will be used to develop and promote the late hero, father Zimbabwe, Dr Joshua Nkomo’s tourism heritage trails. Tourism heritage trails entail the crafting of routes that tourists can undertake if they want to understand the history behind an iconic figure or any heritage.
“So we are certain that this heritage will be a success and we will not only profile the region where the late Vice President hailed from but we will take tourists across our great nation because father Zimbabwe was never confined to Bulawayo, he was more popular in some parts of the country than he was in Bulawayo,” he said.
Dr Kaseke added that they have already been given the go-ahead by the family and the Joshua Nkomo Foundation to implement the project.
“So we are creating tourism heritage trails which we are going to be using for tourism and we have already talked to the family and we have already talked to the foundation they have already agreed and we are going to have on the 5th of September a march in honour of father Zimbabwe for our Sanganai.
“Sanganai/Hlanganani is going to honour father Zimbabwe and we are going to launch this at Sanganai/Hlanganani the tourism heritage trails that will be in honour of Dr Nkomo.
About 300 exhibitors are expected to take part in the exhibition that will also see about 240 hosted buyers and 15 international media houses coming for the event in Bulawayo.
The main highlights for Sanganai/Hlanganani this year are the late Joshua Nkomo trails at the Bulawayo City Hall. 5th of September, Official opening might be on the same day as well.
There will also be speed networking between local buyers and local tour operators, speed networking between exhibitors and international buyers in Hall 2 from the 6th to the 7th.
Sustainable tourism school quiz by the School of Tourism will be on the 6th of September
An awards ceremony will be on the 7th of September,
African Ministers roundtable and women in tourism conference will be on the 8th of September
The 8th of September is also a public day and there will be lots of entertainment.
