Out-going Sunbird Tourism board Chairperson, Leonnard Chikadya says he has retired from the giant hotel chain group a frustrated man due to government\u2019s continued neglect and lack of genuine interest to develop the tourism industry.<\/p>\n
He says Malawi\u2019s tourism industry will remain grossly underdeveloped until politicians and civil servants put national interest ahead of their personal agendas.<\/p>\n
Chikadya, who once worked for Sunbird as a senior manager for 10 years is also worried about the future of the largely government-owned hotel group, saying the company is \u201cslowly but surely falling apart\u201d because the government is failing to re-inject capital into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey [government] are instead pouring borrowed billions into the Chinese white elephant in Lilongwe,\u201d said Chikadya, in reference to the Presidential Hotel and Bingu International Conference Centre in Lilongwe.<\/p>\n
Chikadya, who retired as chairperson after five years at the helm during the hotel chain\u2019s Annual General Meeting in Blantyre on Thursday, has since passed on the mantle to FDH Bank Managing Director Phillip Madinga.<\/p>\n
Sharing his experience of the industry to some journalists on Friday, Chikadya said while tourism has proven to be a cashcow for other economies in the region such as Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, Malawi\u2019s tourism industry remains in a sorry state.<\/p>\n
He blamed the situation on abuse of power and corruption among politicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe decision-makers simply don\u2019t care. While [some] civil servants try to hold things together and do something meaningful, most of them are just trying to advance their own personal agendas,\u201d said Chikadya.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were reluctant to accept that they could not run a national airline and they have made a disastrous mess of national wildlife parks,\u201d alleged Chikadya.<\/p>\n
He wondered why Malawi is introducing visa restrictions while at the same time claiming to promote the country as a tourism destination of choice.<\/p>\n
He observed that on arrival into and departure from the country, Malawi doesn\u2019t encourage international travelers to come into the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cChileka Airport speaks for itself. We must be the laughing stock for international travelers who pass through that airport. And the arrivals section at Kamuzu International Airport is hopelessly inadequate for handling luggage. KIA too is falling into disrepair,\u201d said Chikadya.<\/p>\n
He said if he were the president of Malawi, he would have ordered all cabinet ministers and senior government officials to stop using the VIP lounge at Chileka airport and instead pass through the public section like everyone else.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn so doing, at least you will be able to find a tissue in the airport\u2019s toilet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also took a swipe at the immigration staff at the airports and other entry points into the country, saying they do not appear to enjoy their jobs and don\u2019t make tourists feel welcome.<\/p>\n
Malawi\u2019s hotels, said Chikadya, are too expensive and blamed the same on \u201cpunitive\u201d import duties and taxes.<\/p>\n
He said the lakeshore is still short of decent accommodation establishments due to government\u2019s inability to attract investment into the tourism sector and in adequate infrastructure to service the lakeshore.<\/p>\n
Malawi also discourages competition by restricting airlines.<\/p>\n
\u201cAgain if I were president, all these problems would be attended to in the first 100 days. No debate. No discussion. Just fix it. There is a time for politics and there\u2019s a time for action,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Out-going Sunbird Tourism board Chairperson, Leonnard Chikadya says he has retired from the giant hotel chain group a frustrated man due to government\u2019s continued neglect and lack of genuine interest to develop the tourism industry. He says Malawi\u2019s tourism industry will remain grossly underdeveloped until politicians and civil servants put national interest ahead of their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4176,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4172"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4177,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4172\/revisions\/4177"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.times.mw\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}