PUBLIC personality, influencer, comedian and chef Carl Joshua Ncube says rural areas should be invested in and innovative ways found to make live enjoyable in these idyllic places.
Ncube believes rural areas can be transformed into luxurious homes without taking away their aura.
Ncube, who is the founder and chief executive officer of Rural BnB told NewsDay Life & Style that activities such as marathons, driving ranges for golfing, bush dinners, food festivals, toy manufacturing and board game development have potential to change the face of rural communities by transforming them to tourist destinations.
He also noted that these activities have great potential to bring traffic to rural areas and create employment opportunities which lessen rural-urban migration in search of jobs, adding that less people will be inclined to leave rural communities.
Ncube said when he started Rural BnB, the idea was to license out his knowledge to other Zimbabweans on the potential of tourism especially in the rural areas and now it also provides business plans to anyone that wants to transform their village into a tourism business.
Rural BnB’s vision is to convince Africans to develop their rural homesteads into vibrant tourism hubs.
“As a public personality and influencer, I have always had people asking me to put together holiday packages for them. We often do village tours, bush lunches and chefs tables not only in Zimbabwe but in Rwanda, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa as well,” Ncube said.
He added that they had a huge community of over 2 000 people that wanted to start a rural tourism business, adding that others just bring their families to the village during the holidays.
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“I normally have guests like filmmakers, documentarians, and international media such as CNN that I will take on tours with me. It actually results in me getting more customers,” Ncube said.
He said reviews were positive and he has considered a diaspora engagement tour from May to November.
Ncube said they had a long list they considered to be Rural BnBs on their Rural BnB platform which include Peniel Retreat, Khayelitsha, Umuzi and KoMpisi all in Victoria Falls, Palawani in Zvishavane, Pamuhacha in Goromonzi, Danai Farm in Domboshava, Malubarina Festival in Gokwe and Mukuni village in Livingstone, Zambia.
