Millions view Malawi tourism advert on CNN
About 185 million people managed to watch the Ministry of Tourism and the Malawi Investment Trade Centre (Mitc) advert which was aired on the Cable News Network (CNN) Europe, Middle East and Africa feed.
According to a report from CNN, by running the advert on the channel from October 2013 to April 2014, Malawi managed to reach 70 percent of the global tourism market.
The report says 26 percent of respondents recalled seeing the Destination Malawi advertisement as soon as it started being beamed and this rose among all key sub-groups.
“Seventy-four percent were in agreement that advertising on CNN will enhance the reputation of Malawi which was above the benchmark score of 66 percent. Scores rose to 84 percent amongst those recalling the advert.
“Verbatim responses showed the belief that advertising on CNN would be beneficial in raising awareness of Malawi globally as well as improving its reputation through showing what it has to offer,” reads the report in part.
Deputy director of tourism responsible for marketing, Sosten Lingwalanya, confirmed in an interview that the perception of Malawi amongst tourists has changed for the better because of the advert.
“We spent over K200 million to pay for the adverts, but the results have been tremendous. We have made inroads in the European markets especially in the United Kingdom, Germany, Holland, France as well as Italy. We are getting this feedback from a number of tour operators after they get inquiries from tourists,” he said.
Lingwalanya, however, said as a ministry, they could have loved if the campaign had not been interrupted due to lack of funds because many people who missed the advert could have seen it.
“All things being equal, we were hoping that government would provide more funds but it was not to be. But we have factored the costs of in the forthcoming budget and our plan is to run the ads from July to January next year,” he said.
Ulendo Safari marketing manager Rosebill Satha Sambo agreed with Lingwalanya that using CNN for advertising has been beneficial to Malawi.
“We have received many inquiries from tourists and they have in fact indicated to us that they learnt about Malawi through CNN. The advantage of advertising on CNN is that it has a large audience and is also reputable,” she said.
Sambo, however, said the onus is on tour operators to provide competitive rates for.
“When tourists are enquiring about Malawi, they also enquire about other countries at the same time and one does not visit a country because the price is cheap,” she said.
