The Minister of Environment, Tourism and Hospitality Industry has appointed sporting sensation, Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira as Tourism Ambassador at a colourful event at Rainbow Towers Hotel today.
The concept of Tourism Ambassadors is widely used as a tool for promoting many destinations across the globe. People are appointed Tourism Ambassadors for their ability to significantly contribute to the promotion of destinations with the main objective of increasing tourism traffic.
Tourism Ambassadors could be nationals of Zimbabwe or non –nationals for which the titles would be Tourism Ambassador for the former and Honorary Tourism Ambassador for the latter. The term of office varies from a minimum period of a year to a period as determined by my Ministry.
The Person chosen must have excelled in a particular discipline, be it sport, music, art, business, beauty pageants or charity work thereby giving them influence on the international arena. The individual must be of high integrity, must be apolitical and also able to defend the interests of Destination Zimbabwe.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the man we have gathered to celebrate and in turn confer as Tourism Ambassador needs no introduction, the veteran Sharks front rower, The Beast, is famous for being the first black Springbok to play 100 Tests and even eclipsed Adriaan Strauss as South Africa’s most capped Super Rugby player.
Given all his fame on the global rugby arena, he has remained grounded. His humility is worth admiring and his involvement with two major charities here in Zimbabwe, both committed to helping children in school and sport has earned himself the status of philanthropist. His love for Zimbabwe shines through his dedication and hard work, and above all leading by example on whatever he does in his life.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I hereby confer Mr Tendai Mtawarira, The Beast, as Tourism Ambassador for destination Zimbabwe and wish him all the best in his new endeavours,” Minister Mupfumira said.
In agreement, Mrs. Rita Likukuma, the Acting Chief Executive of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority said (ZTA) the global trend in tourism today calls for destinations to appoint Tourism Ambassadors as advocates for the destination offerings.
“For us, these opinion leaders are strategic in positioning Destination Zimbabwe as a destination of choice. Given their influence on the global market, we believe that their fame can be transferred to our destination with the resultant increase in patronage,” Mrs. Likukuma said.