eBusiness Weekly
Ishemunyoro Chingwere
Zimbabwe’s senior man’s cricket team, the Chevrons, made local and international headlines this week when they beat Pakistan in the last of their three-match series but the win was not only important for its sporting relevance as the team also carried an important economic message to the world.
The Chevrons, arguably the biggest global sporting brand in Zimbabwe, last month signed up to the Visit Zimbabwe Promotion Campaign which seek to leverage on the power of sports and tourism to market Destination Zimbabwe to the global audience.
The signing ceremony was launched by President Mnangagwa and was attended by Vice Presidents Constantino Chiwenga and Kembo Mohadi and several Cabinet ministers thus underlining the importance of the occasion.
The deal, a culmination of negotiations between the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority and Zimbabwe Cricket saw parties agreeing to have national cricket teams wearing branded merchandise inscribed, “Visit Zimbabwe a World of Wonders”.
As part of the deal, the Chevrons had the “Visit Zimbabwe a World of Wonders” logo on their apparel for the tour International Cricket Council (ICC) T20 World Cup qualifier tour of Pakistan.
The “Visit Zimbabwe” campaign is a key anchor of the country’s national tourism strategy which seeks to grow tourism receipts from about US$1 billion annually to about US$5 billion by 2025 as part of efforts to attain President Mnangagwa’s Vision 2030 with which Zimbabwe is targeting upper middle-income economic status.
While it is difficult to gauge the number of cricket fans who watched the series and consequently had an encounter with the “Visit Zimbabwe” message, one can hazard to say the audience, at the very least, ran into hundreds of millions globally.
The numbers were largely boosted by the fact that this was an important world cup qualifier series and it was the only international cricket tie at the material time.
“The audience was obviously huge because it was the only international match at that time,” said an international cricket journalist who declined to be named, “you also have to look at the number of international broadcasters who screened the matches live.
“Supersport was broadcasting the series across Africa and Ten Sports, with its millions of viewers across Asia and YouTube also had the series live and from that alone there is no denying to the fact that it was a marketing masterstroke for Destination Zimbabwe,” he said.
However, the results might not be immediate as the world is still grappling with Covid-19 induced global travel restrictions.
Zimbabwe, is however, forging ahead with restarting tourism activity, starting with domestic tourism.
Just last week Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu launched ZimBho #iZimYami #Vakatsha which is an elaborate and audacious strategy that is expected to create a buzz around Destination Zimbabwe using domestic tourists.
Speaking at the signing ceremony between ZTA and Zimbabwe Cricket, President Mnangagwa said the deal had the potential to catapult Zimbabwe into exponential tourism growth.
“The strategy is anchored on Zimbabwe’s vision to be a premier international tourist destination based on the judicious and sustainable exploitation of our unique human and natural resources,” said the President.
“It further seeks to re-establish lost contacts with the local, regional and international tourism source markets.
“Today’s event is therefore informed by that strategic goal, riding on the partnership between the Zimbabwe national cricket teams and the ZTA. The Visit Zimbabwe Promotion Campaign will see a warm invitation being extended to the world to visit Zimbabwe,” he said.
