Stakeholders in the tourism industry have urged the Ministry of Tourism to exploit technology and target global tourism power houses to amplify the three-day Malawi International Tourism Expo to attain its marketing objective.
They gave the advice on Monday ahead of the sixth edition of Malawi International Tourism Expo starting tomorrow to Saturday in Lilongwe.
In separate interviews, the experts and industry players said despite the expo being a good initiative to promote the country’s tourism sector, they believe the annual event can be improved to make it more impactful and attract worthwhile investors.
Itinerary expert and Orbis Destination Management Company director Innocent Kaliati, while describing the tourism expo as an opportunity for the country to showcase its products to the world, said the event can be improved to make it even better.
He said: “The Ministry of Tourism has shown great consistency in organising this event. Do we need to do more? Certainly. I think it’s time we leverage on technology to amplify this event to make it bigger and better.
“A good website and booking platform is key, but we surely need to have a good foundation to build on.”
Kaliati said the newly enacted Tourism Industry Act 2025 will pave the way for the creation of the Malawi Tourism Authority that will market Malawi to help to add value and improve other marketing-oriented initiatives.
Malawi Institute of Tourism head of travel department Dennis Magodi said apart from the use of modern technology to easily market Malawi and the tourism expo, there is need to target special companies and individuals whose participation can add value.
He said: “I believe if we identify global tourism influential players, targeting specific players each year with pre-arranged meetings with them, we can benefit from their influence.
“There are influential players in tourism whose impression and recommendation can easily make Malawi a common destination for tourists. There is need for the event to target key companies and individuals.”
Speaking at a press briefing last week ahead of the expo, Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule said the event is part of her ministry’s strategy to vigorously market all tourism destinations that Malawi has.
She said they expect between 200 and 300 exhibitors and hailed the annual event as one of the critical tools to market Malawi’s tourism sector.
Kamtukule said failure to effectively market tourism is the biggest challenge hampering the growth of the sector that contributes about seven percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), the broad measure of economic output.
She said: “There is poor communication between government and the private sector on destination marketing. Operators market the country in some way, but the government would frown over it.
“We need to have a coordinated brand. We have underutilised our resources, including Lake Malawi. That has affected how we position ourselves competitively.”
The new law is designed to ensure division of roles and devolve some regulation powers to the Malawi Tourism Authority, according to experts.
Tourism plays a critical role in the growth of the economy as the sector accounts for 9.1 percent of the global GDP, according to the Malawi Government Annual Economic Report 2025.
The report further says in Malawi, tourism is prioritised in the Malawi 2063, the country’s long-term development strategy in view of its contribution to socio-economic development, job creation and poverty reduction.
In 2024, tourism contributed about K865 billion to the GDP, a rise from the previous year’s K743 billion, according to the report.
