AfDB sees booming local tourism sector
The African Development Bank (AfDB) has said it expects an increase in the tourism sector’s input to the economy, thanks to its $11 million Promotion of Investment and Competitiveness in the Tourism Sector (PICTS) project.
PICTS Project Coordinator Hebert Chihana said, through the project, national parks in the country have already registered substantial progress in addressing poaching incidents.
Chihana made the remarks in an interview on the sidelines of the handover ceremony of infrastructure built at Lake Malawi National Park under the PICTS project.
He said the country’s tourism sector has great potential if locals take interest in preserving resources.
“But we hope things will improve because we are trying to renovate some structures in some parks to make them appealing. Additionally, we are also capacitating parks officials for them to ably conduct patrols to curb poaching and other illegal activities that are affecting the Parks,” he said.
At Lake Malawi National Park, PICTS is contributing about K268 million for renovation of the entrance and hostels, among others.
“We have also capacitated the tour guides and other cooperatives around the parks for them to help in conserving the resources within the parks. This can somehow help end illegal dependency of wildlife,” he said.
Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule believes Malawi’s tourism potential is yet to be fully harnessed.
Kamtukule challenged the Department of Wildlife and Parks to improve its service delivery and ensure an increase in domestic tourism.
“Sometimes we think Malawians do not want to travel for tourism, but it is because we do not offer them real value for money. This is an opportunity for us to make sure more Malawians are accessing improved services which they can be proud to sell elsewhere,” she said.
Kamtukule said through the Tourism Master Plan, which was launched last year, the local tourism sector has the potential to contribute more to the GDP than the agricultural sector.
In 2019, tourism’s contribution to Malawi’s GDP was at 7.7 percent.
But it went down to 5.6 percent in 2022, which translates to about K528 billion.
The input, according to officials, went down due to the Covid pandemic which affected countries worldwide.
