23 Aug 2022

 China will host a 40-day Walking Africa Culture and Art exhibition in Beijing, China in collaboration with Gaborone-based Africa Insight, a tourism and international media company.

The exhibition, scheduled for September 1 to October 9, is aimed at portraying Botswana as a place worthy of investment in the art and culture sector.

In an interview with BOPA, the Director of Africa Insight Tao Ma, said this was an inaugural exhibition, which would see Botswana art and culture showcased in Beijing for free.

“We have been offered a free exhibition space to showcase Botswana culture at the Walking Africa Culture and Art exhibition, therefore we urge all Batswana and stakeholders to provide us with any of their art, culture and tourism services and products to take along for this exhibition,” noted Tao, emphasising that the exhibition was about art, culture and tourism.

Tao said this year, Africa Insight would only take along the pieces and works from various stakeholders displaying Botswana culture.

He said the pieces could be in the form of books, art pieces, music and every other thing that would showcase the rich culture of Botswana.

He said only next year, when the exhibition expands, would they now sponsor artists from Botswana to physically exhibit their crafts.

The operations manager, Thabang Khumomatlhare said Africa Insight, which was registered as a mobile safari company, mainly catered for the Asian market, especially the Chinese tourists who started visiting Botswana after the COVID-19 pandemic.

“China was the hardest hit by the pandemic and when COVID-19 protocols were relaxed, most of them [Chinese]  started visiting Botswana for tourism attractions,” said Khumomatlhare, adding that the response from the Chinese tourists had been extremely positive as they arrived in  large numbers. ENDS