Fund helps to revatalise tourism sector, say players
The Malawi Innovation Challenge Fund (Mifc) has helped to revitalise the local tourism sector by restoring some assets lost during the Covid-19 pandemic.
However, players in the sector say a full recovery remains elusive.
Central Adventure Safaris managing director Chris Kayamba, whose firm is one of the players in the tourism sector that benefited from the fund, said in an interview the road to recovery is proving to be long.
He said: “There’s a noticeable improvement in the overall tourism ecosystem compared to the pandemic’s peak. However, we are still far from pre-pandemic levels.”
Small Steps Adventure Tours managing director Franciwell Phiri said the pandemic’s devastating impact has left many small-scale tourism players on the brink of collapse.
“The pandemic forced us to sell assets, including vehicles we had worked tirelessly to pay off over the past decade, to refund cancelled tours,” he said.
During the pandemic, which hit the tourism sector hard resulting in 300 000 jobs being lost, Micf provided matching grants ranging from $200 000 (about K350 million) to $300 000 (K525 million), offering a vital lifeline to struggling businesses.
Last year, the tourism sector contributed 5.5 percent to the gross domestic product, according to the Malawi Government Annual Economic Report 2024.
