It looks like all is not well in the Miss Tourism Zimbabwe pageant as the Sunday Mail reports that it is stuttering. It is reported that the pageant seized to be a priority to the tourism body, hence the sponsorship problems marring the pageant. Organisers of the event are still not sure if the pageant will take place this year as the ZTA has just pulled a plug on them.
One insider was quoted by the publication saying:
There has been a shift in the destination marketing strategy and events like Miss Tourism are no longer of top value to ZTA
ZTA head of Corporate Affairs Godfrey Koti also said they are restructuring their operations as an organisation and it was not their duty to organise sponsorship for the pageant.
We are currently streamlining our operations so that we make best use of the resources at our disposal. The Authority owns the MTZ licence but it is not our duty to mobilise sponsorship or be involved in the actual organisation of the pageant.
“The ZTA only provides technical support to the company running the event on our behalf, not financial support. It is the organisers’ responsibility to make sure they run the pageant successfully, even without our involvement in any way
Miss Tourism Zimbabwe was not held in 2017, it came back last year and up to now,it is still not clear if it will take place.