PICTURE: A cultural village should identify a culture and be accessible throughout the year in order to keep attracting tourists
THERE is a growing interest in cultural tourism worldwide. With this cultural passion, a cultural village can be one of the key tourist attractions and development initiative in any given community.
A cultural village can be described as an area that is designed to portray to visitors how a particular ethnic group lives. It displays all aspects of village life in one place. A cultural village will take a format of a museum.
The main advantage of establishing such a village is that it creates identity. Locals feel a sense of citizenship and belonging. A community has potential to develop if locals take pride in their environment.
A cultural village can be established by a learning centre or the community itself. Emganwini Secondary School in Bulawayo is one example of a learning institution which built a cultural village in 2011. This article shall be biased towards the community owned cultural village.
A cultural village’s surroundings are usually environmental friendly and attractive. A cultural village cannot be established where the environment is noisy and polluted. Tourists prefer visiting areas that have undisturbed nature and where they can escape from city clutter, sewage and smoke.
Before urbanisation, communities used have their traditional ways of preserving natural resources. Chiefs played a pivotal role in the policing of natural resources. They had laws that prohibit exploitation of the resources. The forest was the pharmacy and people hunted to feed the family. Flora and fauna species flourished. Such a village help communities return to their original conservation methods.
A cultural village is the link between different cultures. Most Zimbabwean communities fall into the sub-culture group. People in this culture group get connected with the rest of the world (elite, popular and global cultures) through cultural villages. So it’s important that when establishing a cultural village, it doesn’t portray the local culture as a stagnant one which cannot respond to global change. For example, services like electricity, communication network (phone/internet) and banking facilities are a global necessity. If available at or near the village, tourists are motivated to keep visiting the area.
Groups that have a direct interest in visiting a cultural village include local educated women (who earn more money and have a much spending power) as well as students and foreign elite class (which spending more on vacation), scholars and students. Establishment of a cultural village can keep these groups on tour.
The influx of these people gives birth to the hospitality industry. Tourists require lodging and food. Communities can operate guest houses and eating houses that serve traditional food. As a result, farm produce from local farmers can have a ready market.
Tourists tend to visit nature reserves after experiencing village life. The cultural village can partner a tour operator to offer them a nature reserve service. Also, the tour operator can offer alternative accommodation if tourists outnumber the cultural village’s accommodation facilities. Due care must be give that the tour operator and the cultural village don’t end up killing each other’s business.
Some tourists come to a cultural village for the sole reason of experiencing total village life. They would prefer staying in the villagers’ homes doing daily chores like washing and fetching water in rivers, farming, fetching firewood in the forest and cooking using firewood.
Such a gesture would influence communities to upgrade homes as long as the traditional flavour is kept alive. As a result, local brick making and thatching industries flourish.
A cultural village helps market the arts and crafts industry. The villages can act as a centre for displaying sculpture, art and design, and artefacts. Usually, tourists want to return home with souvenirs. These can be in form of designer clothes (tie and dye), weavings, embroidery, metal work, pottery, handmade beads, paintings, sculpture and basketry. The creative industry thus benefits.
Also, a cultural village helps market performing arts and festivals. Tourists require entertainment during their stay at the cultural village. They can relax listening to local story-tellers, local musicians and local poets. They can also watch traditional dances and play traditional games. As a result, performing artistes can be kept busy.
In the preceding article, we discussed the need of creating electronic products like cartoon movies based on folktales. Artists and producers of such cartoons would benefit much from a cultural village since all aspects of a culture are portrayed in one cultural village. As a result, the electronic media can expand.
Establishment of a cultural village help in the improvement of the road network. Most communities are accessible by road than rail or air.
The rainy season usually leave earth roads in bad state. Is it wise that a cultural village suffer to this? Isn’t it vital for the local government or the road authority to improve the road network of each cultural village? Tourists should be kept pouring anytime of the year.
If most of our communities manage to establish a viable cultural village, how many tourists can we expect to receive each year?
The interest in cultural villages is growing at the same time as the interest in religion. How can religion benefit tourism and the economy? The forthcoming article shall discuss the topic.