Tourism council decries low funding
Malawi Tourism Council (MTC) chairperson Stan Phiri has said the country cannot compete with its neighbours in the tourism sector if it continues to allocate meagre resources to the Department of Tourism.
In the 2015/16 National Budget, the department has been allocated K100 million (US$222 222), an amount Phiri said cannot move the country’s tourism to greater heights.
He said last year when the country advertised on Cable News Network (CNN), it attracted interest from all over the world, but that cannot be achieved if the allocated money is supposed to cater for the whole department.
The adverts on CNN cost the department about K225 million (US$500 000).
“There is much more that needs to be done, including making the country’s accessibility more competitive and reckoning. On budgetary allocation, our plea to government is that it must be increased substantially to help the tourism department ably fulfill its activities,” he said.
Phiri said the formation of MTC has come at a good time as it will help players in the sector to speak with one voice.
“When we were an association, we were small, but since evolving into a council we can attract more players, including those with restaurants, drinking joints, hotels, car hire companies and even lodge owners,” he said.
Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture Kondwani Nankhumwa admitted that resources are not enough to market the country, but encouraged those responsible for selling Malawi to do so as a package.
“Resources will never be enough and part of the solution to this is to encourage tour operators to sell Malawi as part of a package of countries near us,” he said.
