Zim miss golden opportunity

Tadious Manyepo
Sports Reporter
ZIMBABWE could have lost hundreds of thousands in potential tourism revenue after the country missed their chance to host International Military Sports Council (CISM) Golf Tournament next year.

The prestigious annual event was originally scheduled to take place in June in Victoria Falls with 25 countries, including the United States, having had already confirmed their participation.

The event had attracted bumper sponsorship but it was called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Zimbabwe were then given another chance to stage the fiesta next year.

But, the sponsors, whose businesses were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, pulled out, resulting in the local organisers excusing themselves.

Zimbabwe’s chief delegate in East and Southern Africa (ESALO) and chief organiser of the event, Air Commodore Simon Nyowani, expressed disappointment after seeing this mega opportunity to host the world slip away.

Provisionally, the event has been moved to Spain, who were the original host country for the 2021 edition of the tournament.

The European nation haven’t yet confirmed their willingness to do so.

“We were supposed to host the international military golf tournament in June this year but we couldn’t due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Air Commodore Nyowani.

“I should say all was set, with 25 countries already having confirmed their participation at the time.

“The countries include the United States of America and a lot of European countries.

“It was going to be massive, not just in terms of the level of competition but the potential, in terms of sport tourism.

“The location, Victoria Falls was the ideal setting for an event of that magnitude.

“We had one main sponsor for the event, who I cannot name for ethical reasons, and several other corporates and individuals had also joined in to financially back the event.

“All the necessary logistics, including bookings, had already been done and it was all systems go.’’

He said Zimbabwe had been given a chance because of its participation in previous events.

“We are one of the few African nations who have participated at this event on previous occasions and we were ready to host the world,’’ he said. “Most African countries were also going to grace the event and the excitement was high.

“But Covid-19 put paid to those plans.

“CISM had given us another chance to host the event in 2021, since we had not been able to host the event this year due to unforeseeable circumstances, but we couldn’t find sponsors and it’s now a closed chapter.  “The 2021 tournament was originally scheduled for Spain but that country also decided to give us the chance to host since ours had been taken away by the pandemic.

“But, the sponsors, including those who had agreed to finance us for the original instalment, had their businesses affected and could not commit themselves and we have since notified the CISM and that’s it.

“Hosting this event would have been massive, in terms of even marketing Destination Zimbabwe.”

Zimbabwe Tourism Authority spokesperson, Godfrey “Chief” Koti, said it was a disappointing chapter for the Zimbabwe tourism industry.

“Our drive as the ZTA is to increase and improve the link between tourism and sport and we were looking forward to hosting several people from all over the world in June before the event was cancelled,” he said.

“We are very saddened because we know, by now people who would have attended the event in Victoria Falls, and would have gone back to their respective destinations with big impressions of Zimbabwe.”

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