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9 January 2003
Charles Mkoka
BLANTYRE, Malawi, January 9, 2003 (ENS) - Nowhere is southern
Africa's food crisis more acute than in Malawi. Out of a total
population of 11 million people, more than three million run the
risk of starvation due to a combination of flooding and drought.
But Malawi has a saving grace. Natural wonders of lake and mountain
and wildlife are attractive to tourists, and the government is
moving to enhance the country's tourist drawing power.
The Malawi Director of Tourism Services Tressa Namathanga says
a strategic plan of action has been created within the Ministry
of Tourism, Parks and Wildlife with funding from the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP). After a feasibility study was conducted,
officials decided on an up market tourism development.
"
The plan is now ready and is likely to take us five to 10 years
to come," Namathanga says. "The plan focuses on tourism
marketing, regularizing the industry, and human resource development."
Five places are identified as ripe for ecotourism development.
First, the Nkhota-kota Wildlife Reserve in central Malawi is the
country's largest game reserve. This rich area of Brachystegia
woodlands unique to tropical Africa is inhabited by hundreds of
elephants. Second, Mount Mulanje in the heart of the southern region
tea district is central Africa's highest mountain, and the third
tallest on the continent. Often misty, the 3,000 meter (peaks rise
from the clouds, offering some of the finest hiking and trekking
trails in Malawi, with well maintained paths and huts, easy access
and beautiful scenery, the Tourism Department says.
Third, watching the birds at Kapichira Falls on the Shire River
in southern Malawi is a draw for tourists as are the antelopes,
buffaloes and hippos at the Majete Wildlife Reserve. Much of the
area's vegetation consists of miombo woodland with some riverine
forest. It supports a small elephant population, as well as hippopotamus,
kudu, sable, bushbuck, waterbuck, Sharpe's grysbok, zebra and warthog.
Fourth, the lakeshore district of Mangoche between Lake Malawi
and Lake Malombe, straddling the Shire River was selected because
of a chain of popular lake resorts and the opportunity to eat delicious
fresh caught chambo fish, a species of the tilapia family. Chambo
and chips is one of Malawi's most popular dishes. But all three
species of chambos have been depleted by overfishing, so the fisheries
department has attempted to control mesh sizes and night fishing.
Finally, Cape Maclear on the Nankumbe Peninsula jutting out into
Lake Malawi is a good place for visitors to see the hundreds of
fish species known as cichlids that are endemic to this lake.
Lake Malawi with over 750 fish species, is used by two other southern
African countries - Tanzania and Mozambique. Environmentalists
are worried about the destruction of the lake’s catchment
area, its biodiversity and many other forms of environmental degradation.
In September 2001, authorities from the three countries met in
Lilongwe, Malawi, to harmonize and strengthen rules guiding the
use and conservation of the environment and natural resources provided
by the lake.
Namathanga said the government's tourism development plan will
see hotels and lodges of 25 to 50 rooms being constructed to cater
to visitors who can be enticed to feel that they are in the warm
heart of Africa, as the "Land of Flames" is known to
the outside world. "We would like to reach to that level," she
said, "in order to boost the industry and attract more visitors
to come to Malawi."
The Ministry of Tourism, Parks and Wildlife has identified other
potential tourist sites for development such as the Maleri Islands
that are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site in Lake Malawi
National Park. The Maleri Islands are ideal for camping especially
for those who want to escape the industrial noise from the city
and listen to the comorants.
The Lilongwe Nature Sanctuary in the heart of Malawi's capital,
Lilongwe, keeps caged wild animals like pythons, hyenas and a leopard,
and a network of nature trails in the sanctuary is ideal for nature
exploration. This site is on the tourism development list. Also
earmarked for promotion and development is Liwonde National Park,
a haven for wildlife species such as the endangered black rhino
which has been reintroduced into the park. Roan antelope, buffalo,
zebra and hartebeasts also have been placed in the park. Boat rides
along the Shire River are offered by a safari company are ideal
for bird watching, and visitors can see an enormous variety of
the Terminalia species of trees and shrubs. Besides yielding high
value timber, many Terminalia species are the source of various
non-wood forest products.
The development list also includes the rolling, flowered hills
of the Nyika Plateau in northern Malawi. This montane highland
area lies on the Malawian border at the easternmost tip of Zambia.
The weather on the Nyika Plateau resembles that of Europe because
of its altitude, so the area is preferred by most tourists from
Europe and North America.
As a means of attracting investors to put up infrastructure and
equipment to take the industry to international level, the tourism
ministry intends to offer incentives by creating an enabling environment
for outside tour operators. The operators will be encouraged to
put up structures and equipment, and duties will be waived for
a specific period such as 10 years.
Still, the Tourism Department has not received a green light from
the Finance Ministry and it is still lobbying for these incentives.
They are intended to create competitiveness and growth and showcase
Malawi as a tourist destination to the rest of the world.
Namathanga admits there is stiff competition amongst destinations
that wish to attract visitors from Europe.
"
The tourists out there study information about the destinations
and countries they intend to visit," she says. "Every
visitor prefers spending his cash where the services are cost effective."
To promote high standards of excellence for the industry, the Tourism
Department intends to launch a campaign that will help all unofficial
tour guides follow standardized procedures in the course of their
duties.
Local leaders in their areas will select eligible guides with good
manners for this training. "All those selected will undergo
a formal training to be administered by the Department of Tourism," she
says.
"
Once that is done, they shall all be licensed and shall bear proper
identification systems. This will enhance effectiveness at local
level thereby creating an enabling environment in Malawi as a tourist
destination site."
Under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program of the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund, local people will learn
enhanced techniques for creating crafts, curios and souvenirs in
order to improve their products and add value to them. "The
department intends to build selected sites where kiosks will be
constructed with restrooms," Namathanga says. "The local
people can then gather their handcrafts, curios and souvenirs.
This will, in the long run, uplift the average person in the village."
At a ceremony late last year at the Le Meriden Mount Soche Hotel
in Blantyre, the Malawi Ministry of Tourism, Parks and Wildlife
unveiled a new tourism logo featuring the warm heart of Africa
in the design.
"
The new logo coupled with a proper and well focused market strategy
will create increased awareness of tourism products, position Malawi
as an ecotourism destination and re-affirm Malawi as a welcoming,
adventure, stop-over destination," Tourism Minister Bernard
Chisale said.
"
The new strategy aims to generate increased tourism and foreign
currency earnings, create long term employment opportunities, raise
the standard of living of the poor people, and support conservation
through sustainable development tourism in Malawi's national parks
and areas of outstanding national beauty," said Chisale.
A new website at: http://tourismmalawi.com is intended to provide
the base for tourism marketing at home and abroad as part of the
tourism publicity and marketing strategy upon which the ministry
has embarked. Public relations units have been opened in Europe
and South Africa, said Assistant Director of Tourism Patricia Liabuba.
Still, Namathanga admits the tourism in Malawi is facing a lot
of challenges. "The industry is currently facing problems
on the ground due to poor road networks that have limited access
to most tourist destinations sites as the roads became impassable,
especially in rainy season," she says. Namathanga notes that
airfields are not strategically located so as to reduce inconveniences
created by the problem of flight connections from one place to
another.
There has been minimal infrastructure to support the industry so
that it can comfortably compete at an international standard. Ecotourism
has not been a priority because roads to natural wonders are not
in good repair.
Figures obtained from the Ministry of Tourism, Parks and Wildlife
indicate that in 1998 tourists numbering 219,600 visted Malawi,
a growth of 5.9 percent from the previous year.
Another good year for tourism occurred in 1999 when 254,300 visitors
entered the country for a growth of 15.8 percent over the previous
year.
But in the year 2001 a decline in numbers to 227,600 showed a 10.5
percent decrease in tourists visiting Malawi.
Andrew Watson, who heads Community Partnership for Sustainable
Resource Management in Malawi, estimates that tourism and related
industries will generate US$27 billion per year by 2010 and over
30 percent of GDP in the Southern African Development Community
region.
In his report entitled "Opportunities for Sustainable Financing
of Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Malawi," Watson
says the country has a good opportunity to develop a strong tourism
industry.
"
Malawi with its cultural, ecological and biological diversity,
and scenic beauty should be poised to make the most of the opportunity," says
Watson. "At the present however, economic instability and
lack of investment incentives severely constrain growth."
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