Malawi tipped on packaging tourism

Malawi’s Fifth International Tourism Expo closed on Saturday with some local and foreign travel agents urging the country to aggressively market its tourism offering to attract more tourists.

The Netherlands travel agent Maureen Voorn- Somowidjojo described Malawi as a virgin tourism destination with so much potential, but said the country needs to do more to become recognisable on the global scale.

Speaking in the company of her compatriot and tourism agent Angelique van Schaijk, she said: “There is potential. Malawi has the mountains, friendly people, a rich culture and everything, but I feel it is a new destination and needs to be further developed and marketed.”

However, the local and foreign tourism agents highlighted the downside of the country’s tourism, aside from the huge potential to make it globally appealing.

Mlambe Safaris representative Jorge Thawe, whose travel agency packages Malawi’s tourist’s destinations, said most visitors do not primarily come to sleep in hotels, but to experience the culture, natural resources and historical features.

He said the hospitality industry benefits from these resources as they attract people that become guests in their outfits, challenging the country’s facilities to improve on standards.

“This expo helps us to have a platform to meet foreign buyers for linkages and as they sell destinations, they can also include Malawi through us who have to facilitate tourists travel experience here,” said Thawe.

In an interview, Ministry of Tourism spokesperson Joseph Nkosi said although there was low patronage  on the last day of the expo held at Bingu International Convention Centre in Lilongwe, the objectives were achieved.

“We met all our objectives that we had planned, especially on the trade days which had all the activities well patronised. But we noted there was a low patronage on the public day,” he said.

Nkosi attributed the low patronage to inadequate publicity about the public day which was on Saturday, saying this will be improved next time.

“We will do a post-mortem meeting on Monday and that will be among the issues to be reviewed,” he said.

The expo, which President Lazarus Chakwera launched on Thursday, was characterised by exhibitions, business-to-business meetings, workshops, familiarisation tours by foreign bookers and buyers, among others.

In her opening speech, Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule said the expo was organised to market the country.

“The expo has been organised to attract buyers and writers from outside the country so that they experience Malawi and sell it in their countries,” she said.

Besides the expo, the tourism buyers, agents and writers were taken around the country to appreciate the tourist attractions for promotion.