The Tourism Council of Zambia (TCZ) says there is need for the review of the Tourism and Hospitality Act of 2007 to bring it in line with global expectations.
TCZ Chairman, Mark O’Donnell also said that a review is needed to bring on board the needs of the industry.
Mr O’Donnell said the act, as it stands, does not reflect the needs of the tourism industry in a global environment.
He said stakeholders in the industry are of the view that most of their inputs were not reflected in the Act.
“The current understanding and common position for both government and the private sector is that the Acts were formulated through a consultative process . However, the two Acts took long to be enacted and when they were enacted it would seem that much of the consultative process was not included in the final version,” he said.
Mr O’Donnell was speaking when he appeared before the parliamentary committee on Energy, Environment and Tourism which is receiving submissions on the regulation of the hospitality industry, rural electrification programme and the management of the Game Management Areas (GMAs).
And Mr O’Donnell has implored the committee to call key players in the energy sector to ascertain the causes of the high cost of jet fuel in the country.
He reiterated that the council does not understand why the cost of jet fuel has continued to be high in the country when government has reduced taxes on the commodity.
He revealed that jet fuel in the country is double in comparison to Johannesburg and Nairobi where the commodity was costing about 45 cents a litre.
He said the committee needs to call players such as Indeni and National Airports Corporation (NAC) to give an explanation on the matter.
The TCZ Chairman stressed that the growth of the hospitality industry will continue to be hampered unless the issue of air service is properly addressed.
He said air service should be accessible and affordable because it offered the best mode of transport.
Meanwhile, TCZ has implored government to cancel the introduction of the tourism levy which is in the Act.
Mr O’Donnel stated that te industry did not need any further levy as it was already over taxed.
He added that the industry was not given concessions this year as other sectors and industries.
And TCZ Executive Director, Joseph Mehl, submitted that the country can still review its diminishing culture if there is political will.
She said that the promotion of culture will gain momentum if leaders and parliamentarians set the pace for other stakeholders to follow.
ZANIS/ENDS/MKM/EB
TCZ has just woken up – kokoliko!
Ba LT try to unravel your reporting. One minute you are talking about the toursim Act but you focus much on cost of jet fuel as if the price of jet fuel should be captured in the tourism Act.
Apart from the Tourism levy that they want scrapped,i have not learnt anything from this article to enhance my knowledge of the New Tourism Act.