European Charlatans on Tourism & Trade
So we have been bombarded and inundated with articles, images and sound-bytes about Zimbabwe winning some “Best Tourism Destination” whatever award, ostensibly from some official-sounding EU body.
Visiting European Union Council on Tourism and Trade executives yesterday said they were not bound by the Western bloc’s foreign policy to isolate Zimbabwe as theirs was to reward countries with best tourist destinations without meddling in political issues. EUCTT president Professor Anton Caragea, said Zimbabwe needed to be rewarded for being endowed with the best tourist attractions, describing Harare as the “Jewel” of Africa.
The European Council on Tourism and Trade actually sounds like an organ of the EU, something I believe is intentional.
We have been trumpeting their award and visit, with images of these chaps visiting Heroes’ Acre and even a main news report of a visit to the VP’s office.
Since the ‘award’, major publications have reported on it locally, and even VOA was in on it. All this coverage would have someone thinking, oooooh that’s nice, the European Union gave Zimbabwe a nice tourism award.
But just who, or what, is the “European Council on Tourism and Trade? Well, this is what their website looks like, so … hint number one.
Who are these guys, anyway?
The European Council on Tourism and Trade (ECTT) is a non-profit making organization with its headquarters in Bucharest . Its members are from 27 European Union Tourism Organizations , whose role is to market and promote tourism and investment opportunities outside the European Union in general, and to individual countries in particular. [About Us]
Oh, so it was formed in 2005, and is made up of, basically, ZTAs from some EU countries.
The guys who are here, being feted on ZTV by the VP and Karikoga Kaseke and so forth, are basically the Karikoga Kasekes of some EU countries.
That’s okay, then. Nothing wrong with that. Uhm, thanks for the award … whoever the hell you people are.
Nice hat, by the way.
