Malawi School of Government Kanengo Campus director Jessie Kabwila has urged marketers in the local tourism industry to promote the country’s tourists attraction sites.

She was speaking on Friday on the sidelines of a week-long course on marketing fundamentals for tourism marketing officers in the Ministry of Tourism in Mponela in Dowa.

Kabwila: We need to portray our
country positively

Kabwila said the potential of the industry to create more jobs and contribute meaningfully to the country’s development can be unleashed by attracting tourists and investors.

She said: “Tourists and investors cannot come if there is nothing to attract them.

“We first need to portray our country positively and sell our tourism sites extensively through the Internet so that foreigners can have the hunger to come and see or invest.”

Kabwila bemoaned the tendency of flooding the Internet with negative posts about Malawi, saying they may look like good stories, but they are slowly killing the tourism industry which has more potential to develop the country.

She observed that despite going through similar economic hardships, neighbouring countries such as Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania are aggressive marketing their countries through positive stories.

Department of Tourism chief tourism officer Ian Musyani said the ministry has embarked on mass promotion of tourism sites, a move which he said required skilled and strategic marketers.

He said:“We want people all over the world to hear about the beauty in Malawi. We are a blessed nation with natural features whose countries don’t have.

“We need to let the world know about them so that they should make plans to visit us.”

The 2022 Malawi Government Annual Economic Report puts tourism among the critical sectors that can transform the country and boost foreign exchange reserves.

It says tourism plays as a vehicle for inclusive development and poverty reduction, especially in the rural areas where most tourists attractions, facilities and services are located.

Reads the report in part: “The industry also promotes inclusive involvement of local communities, including the youth, women and other vulnerable groups, through creation of many entry level employment and business opportunities in both urban and rural areas.”

The tourism industry contributes about seven percent to the country’s gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity, and is touted as one of the sectors that can supplement foreign exchange from tobacco, whose market is facing worldwide anti-smoking campaigns.

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