Outdated Tourism Act hinders growth—Minister

Malawi’s  law governing the tourism sector is outdated and not in tandem with emerging issues in the industry, Minister of Information, Tourism and Civic Education Kondwani Nankhumwa has said.

Tourism is one of the seven specific sectors that Malawi government promoted during the first-ever Malawi Investment Forum which ended on Tuesday in Lilongwe.

In 2014, tourism contributed 4.5 percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and provided 3.8 percent of all jobs, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO).

Malawi has been using the Tourism and Hotels Act of 1968, which had minor amendments in between before a major amendment in 2003 to allow for grading of hotel and accommodation units.

In an interview with Business News to respond to the challenges cited during the forum that are affecting the growth of the sector, Nankhumwa admitted that the sector is currently riddled with numerous problems and partly blamed the archaic piece of law for being “a stumbling block” to the growth of the sector over the years.

“What we have today will not be the same say in five or 10 years, our Act remains a stumbling block,” said the minister who was one of the panelists during break-away session on tourism on Monday.

But he remained optimistic, revealing that with funding from Germany and Norway, government will review the outdated law.

He said one of the key areas in the new Act is the establishment of a Malawi Tourism Authority (MTA), which he said will be coordinating all activities in the sector.

He said the draft amended Act is almost complete and is expected to be vetted by the Ministry of Justice before being presented for approval by Parliament in September this year.

Nankhumwa also admitted that there is more that Malawi needs to do in terms of infrastructure such as building new roads for the country to attract serious investors in tourism.

He said it was sad that along the lake shore—from Karonga to Mangochi— there is no five-star hotel.

“Last time we went to Dubai to market Malawi, we met tourists who said they could only come and have their [holiday] at a five star hotel in Malawi along the lake,” he said.

Earlier, Sunbird Hotels Limited chief executive officer Roger Gardner, who chaired the plenary session on tourism, said despite Malawi being endowed with precious natural resources, the country has failed to utilise them for boosting tourism citing Cape Maclear as one asset which has been underutilised over the years. n