By Mercy Matonga:
Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule has admitted that Malawi is one of the most expensive tourist destinations, which affects the country’s tourism sector.
Kamtukule said that even though the country has many beautiful tourist sites, the high cost of visiting the places keeps most tourists away.
She was speaking in Lilongwe Monday at the launch of a four-day tourism lab, where stakeholders have come together to discuss possible solutions to bottlenecks affecting Malawi’s tourism sector.
“It is expensive for a tourist coming from Spain, Germany or any other country to visit Malawi compared to going to Zambia, Zimbabwe and many other African countries, despite Malawi having the most beautiful tourist destinations compared to our neighbours,” Kamtukule said.
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She added that the introduction of visa-free entry to certain countries has improved the country’s tourism and that bringing together different stakeholders to the lab will help to find solutions.
In her remarks, Head of the Presidential Delivery Unit (PDU), who is also Deputy Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Janet Banda, said the lab will help in finding solutions to issues that contribute to stagnation of the tourism sector.
“PDU is 200 percent committed to facilitating the solution process. We should all remember that this delivery lab is being conducted in response to the directive issued by [President Lazarus Chakwera].
“In his directive, our president emphasised that in his ATM (agriculture, tourism and mining) strategy, tourism has potential to deliver quick wins when compared to agriculture and mining,” Banda said.
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Tourism Board Chairperson Justin Dzimkambani said tourism players are looking forward to working with the government and hoping for positive responses.
Dzimkambani insisted that taxes remain one of the major challenges in the sector.
“We feel the government should reduce taxes so that we can also reduce our prices, allowing even Malawians to enjoy our services before we focus on foreign tourists,” he said.
The lab has brought together stakeholders such as officers from government ministries and departments and the private sector and aims to find solutions to the stagnation in and bottlenecks facing the tourism sector.
