KARACHI: With an ever-increasing appetite for good food and recreation, the city is set to host the second food festival in March, within a span of barely two months.

The decision comes as Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) goes in a proactive mode, aiming to generate revenue and rebuilding the city’s image.

“The city needs to get a new lease of life and the people some much-needed festivity and recreations. Last year we allowed Karachi Eat Festival (KEF) to take place. Within a few months we had more sponsors, project directors calling us and asking for permission. This year, KEF took place successfully and now Karachi Tea Festival (KTF) is in the offing,” says Syed Raza Abbas Rizvi, Senior Director Culture, Sports and Recreation, Karachi Metropolitan Corporation talking to Dawn.

“Our revenue generating departments are with the Sindh government and KMC needs fund,” says Rizvi.

In December 2015, the Sindh government had devolved many services including health and education, the lucrative advertisement hoardings and local taxes service to the six district municipal administrations. Sources said that at least Rs1 billion revenue was generated due to the advertisement hoardings placed all across the city.

Furthermore, illegal bachat bazaars, said to be running under the of patronage of KMC officials, have been eating away the revenue share.

Against this backdrop, renting out the lush green lawn of Frere Hall for Rs500,000 per day for ‘events that bring Karachi walas together’, KMC hopes to bring attention to other landmark sites in the city and make them ‘centres of activity’ with similar festivals.

Food, tea and money

In January, the KEF saw thousands dropping in at the Frere Hall to sample various cuisines and having a good time. This is despite the fact that the entrance fee was Rs250 per person. With the event’s Facebook page showing at least 12,000 attendees, this roughly translates into Rs3,000,000. Add to it the stall bookings and sales, the event easily crossed Rs20 million mark.

Capitalising on the tea war between two leading brands, KTF is on the lines of various tea festivals held around the world.

So is it all eat and drink or do these festivals have an impact on the city’s economy?

Talking to Dawn, KTF organiser Arsalan Khan said, “It isn’t fair to expect a festival to make a dent in the economic state of a city of over 20 million people. What’s important is to ask what happens to Karachi’s economy if events like these stop happening?

“In terms of employment generation, exhibitions and festivals support more than 10 industries. The list includes event consultants, hall fabricators, promotion material printers, event workers, multimedia services providers, brand activation agencies and so on. So whether its Karachi Eat or Karachi Tea Festival, we feed into this economic cycle and help thousands of people earn more for their families.”

So while it’s a win-win situation for the organisers, do small-time participants (those who don’t have restaurants, bakeries, etc) make a profit?

A vendor at the Karachi Eat festival, declining to be named, said, “I invested Rs75,000 and closed the sales at Rs550,000 in three days.”

Yet another vendor said that it all depends on how many people the stall attracts as well as how much the goods and labour cost. “If you book a stall for Rs50,000, it goes down to Rs16,600 per day. So you have to make at least Rs20,000 per day just to cover that one cost and then move towards profit.”

So do these food and tea festivals have the potential of attracting tourists from other parts of the country?

“Totally!” say many who participated and attended the food festival.

“We believe Karachi will become the biggest domestic tourist destination over the next few years. Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) had so many people flying into the city just to attend the event and now these food festivals,” Khan says.

“Even at KLF 2016, it was food stalls which attracted more people than the audience of many sessions combined,” a journalist opined.

Published in Dawn, February 21st, 2016