Minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism Joseph Mwanamvekha has said there are plans to start marketing the country’s various tourism products and opportunities globally as a way of increasing the sector’s capacity to contribute tremendously to the country’s economy.
He said Malawi has minerals and resources that can attract tourists and foreign investors, hence the need to sell the country globally.
“When you travel to other countries people don’t know what Malawi is. We have very beautiful tourism products, mountains, game reserves and hotels. We want to sell the country on DSTv and the procurement process has been done. We would like the country to have a brand,” he said
Mwanamvekha, however, has warned some tourism operators who are promoting ‘tourism receipt leakages’, saying the development is robbing the country of foreign exchange earnings.
“Payment is made in foreign accounts, the tourists just come to Malawi to enjoy holidays without paying anything. Money is being left in other countries. We are losing out on our foreign earnings,” he said
He was speaking yesterday during the first National Tourism Conference held in Lilongwe, which attracted local and foreign participants.
But he said there is need to put the sector in order if it is to make significant strides in the development of the economy.
He said, for instance, the sector is threatened by unplanned and substandard tourism establishments especially along the lakeshore, absence of a tourism map, poor road infrastructure and lack of collaboration in the private sector.
Chairperson of Malawi Tourism Council Florentine Kabefu said some of the policies the government develops such as high taxes and visas are crippling the growth of the sector.
“Recently, visas were introduced and because of that we have lost businesses. A lot of cancellations are happening with different operators because people are thinking that it is expensive to visit the country. People are paying $75 for just a single entry visa,” she said.
The 2015 Tourism Statistics Report from National Statistical Office indicates that the sector contributed K221 billion to the economy—about a 7.2 percent of Growth Domestic Product.
The conference is being held under the theme ‘Tourism the future of a diversified economy’.
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