Mma Ramotswe: Tourism Boom Offering

source: allAfrica
The Voice (Francistown)

21 August 2007
Posted to the web 21 August 2007

Chedza Simon

When filming of the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency (MmaRamotswe) movie is complete, Botswana may become a tourist hub, resembling setting areas where the Da Vince Code was filmed in Rome.

Johnny Breedt, Head of Production Design, who is responsible for setting up model villages, market areas and infrastructure where certain sets of the movie are shot, said when the movie is complete, the infrastructure shall be protected so that tourists from all over the world could visit and generate revenue for the country.

"After the movie is complete, the infrastructure shall be kept and protected for tourist attraction. The plan is to have the No.1 Ladies tour and in the future, the locations will be able to take in a lot of people who visit the country. This film has generated a lot of interest for Botswana and from my knowledge, tourists are already coming here to view the sites. Botswana will be like Rome, where a lot of people are visiting to see the Da Vince Code movie setting locations," said Breedt.

He said they invested around P5 million to set up the 25 locations around the country. According to him, most of the locations are in Gaborone and the northern part of the country. "Some of these locations are bars, villages with huts and other buildings. There is a hospital model facility at Ben Thema School, Eros Bar and the Speedy Motors in Tlokweng. Some of the sets will be made at Gweta, the Makgadikgadi Pans and Maun. These settings shall be maintained for a number of series, may be until next year because they are made to last between 4 to 5 years," said the Head of production design.

The areas, he said, will be [continue reading]