Although Malawi is touted as the most attractive and complete destination in Africa, her earnings from international tourism are being far outpaced by neighbours, Weekend Business analysis has shown.
The analysis, based on published World Travel and Tourism Council data, shows that although most of the countries are yet to recover from the Covid-19 shock, which disrupted economic activity in the sector, Malawi lags.
For instance, while Malawi was able to generate $39.4 million in 2019 from international visitor spending, the earnings are 9.9 percent below the pre-Covid time at $35.5 million in 2023.
Projections show that this year, Malawi could generate $42.9 million from international visitor spending, representing a 20.7 percent jump.
However, the earnings are far below what Zimbabwe ($215.1 million), Zambia ($901 million) and Mozambique ($327 million) generated in 2023.
Recently crowned as one of the best in travel top countries by Lonely Planet in 2022, government hopes the sector is set to return to the upwaes trajectory before the pandemic.
Speaking to CNBC Africa on Malawi’s travel destination landscape at the Africa’s Travel Indaba in Durban, South Africa, Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule said with the budget now increased by 58 percent, tourism is at the centre of the country’s structural transformation.
She said: “We have a diverse range of products, Lake Malawi, third largest in Africa and ninth in the world, wildlife, culture and the warmth of the people. You have not discovered yourself if you have not been to Malawi.
“Until 2020, the consciousness of our people regarding the contribution of tourism to the economy was not there. Now, tourism is at the centre of our structural transformation.”
Kamtukule observed that the contribution of the sector to the economy may be more than what is captured because of the multiplier effect of tourism.
“We are impacting more and we don’t have a system to compute that properly to see how this is contributing to GDP,” she said.
To maximise the tourism industry’s potential and increase foreign exchange generation, Malawi has removed visa fees on international tourists
The waiver is expected to apply to countries such as the United Kingdom, United States of America, The Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Belgium, Italy, France, Poland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, China, Russia and Canada.
The development comes at a time when the ministry seeks to grow the number of tourists from the pre-Covid-19 figure of 900 000 to 1.5 million per year by 2030. Currently, the country gets about 600 000 tourists annually.
Malawi Tourism Council chairperson Justin Dzinkambani earlier observed that investment in tourism product development should be significant to boost tourist numbers that can sustain the industry.
He further urged government to provide the necessary enablers for industry operators such as road network infrastructure through which the players can utilise to enhance business facilities.
“Government needs to assist in creating a business environment that would enable the private sector to develop faster. We need a legal framework that is seamless and friendly to help tourism sector growth,” he said.
