THE Zambian government has started opening offices for tourism promotion in countries like South Africa, France, Spain, Britain and United States (US) of America, Tourism Arts Permanent Secretary George Zulu has said.
Mr Zulu said his ministry through the Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) has embarked on a programme of boosting the economy by way of marketing the country abroad through the tourism sector.
He said that the Zambian economy could develop rapidly through the tourism sector.
He said projects to market Zambia abroad were already underway as the ZTB had already started opening offices in the mentioned countries.
He stated that the ZTB wanted to create joint office with the ministry of Commerce, Trade and Industry in china to strengthen Zambia’s economic relations with that country.
“There’s great potential in the tourism industry to boost the Zambian economy more than in other sectors because the hospitality of the nation draws tourists into the country.
“Our aim is not only to focus on foreigners and how well we can market Zambia internationally but we are also taking into consideration the local people’s interests and that’s why the board targets the employment of 300,000 locals in the tourism industry only,” he said.
Mr Zulu said tourism would greatly be contributing to the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the nation through its operations.
He said marketing Zambia abroad would only boost economic growth and promote strong international relations.
well and good, however, there should be a way to monitor and measure productivity of the people that will be stationed in these offices. otherwise, this will just be another opportunity for some to lavish on govt money and a waste of resouces.
case in point, the zambia embassy in DC leaves much to be desired. their work ethic is so poor, it is appalling. I witnessed a case in which someone who was planning to travel to Zambia and had been promised a visa in a given time frame. Of course, as you might expect, the visa was not ready, and this guy told the secretary/office off.
This and many behaviours are so common among many in these types of positions. Until zambians begin to see beyond ‘kulilamo’ we will continue to be a laughing stock.
Nobody can monitor H.E. Michael Sata and Christine’s relatives (who are prime candidates to fill these positions).
Let them continue eating and let me continue training my children to be able to compete against this super-tribe H.E. Sata has created.
Run those offices like a franchise. That is the only way you will avoid this useless embassy syndrome of appointing dead wood and relatives who are not performing. I remember Zambia Airways running an outfit out of London that worked very well as a tour operator cum holiday package vendor.
I agree with you. The other could be to partner with reputable travel agents like Thomas Cook. Opening offices will be too costly and will create nepotism like in the embassies at the expense of productivity.
The best is to advertise these jobs than giving to family members.
They can advertise but still give the jobs to their relatives. Zambia is now rotten to the core because of tribalism and nepotism. The next government after PF will need to purge every sector of the Zambian society.
I really need that job if given an opportunity.
More jobs for muchingans.
Bravo Ministry of Tourism. Also intensify education and awareness programmes aimed at attracting more local citizens visit these tourism sites.
I agree with you. Charity begins at home. The Ministry of Tourism should open up offices in all the Zambian provinces to monitor and to spearhead tourism development.
Can i open one for you here in Belgium? you will never regret, already i have done a good share of positive work in advertising Zambia, let me know LT has my email adress.
Write a proposal to ZTB citing your strategy and all the good blah blah to merit a positive consideration.
@ sunsumana,
Thanx am on it.
This is something some of us in the diaspora have advocated for many years. But we have said is utilize the people that are already abroad. We understand the system. We have developed a culture of service and efficiency. Some of us even ask for very little remuneration.
Exactly my point, i think both you and i deserve to be given this Job, am actually the best marketing Agent they can ever get in Belgium,i have mastered the S.M.A.R.T concept on my finger tips i can never go wrong in achieving any taks. By January i would propel more Belgians and Nederlanders into Zambia like no mans business, by June next year it would be Scramble for Zambia, the problem is they are allegic to diasporians, the difference though is, we would be based here, our colleague Clive Chirwa relocated back to Zambia which made him more vulnerable due to the fact that he dined in a Vulture infested area, that aside….. good move.
Eureka! Finally they have realised we just could make money out of visitors! Anyway it’s never too late. But what slow thinking! Gosh, at least we are making a start. Good move.
A brilliant move and long overdue! Tourism promotion has been on and off the agenda yet it is a major source of foreign direct investment (FDI).
I also hope the government will consider harnessing the diasporan connection especially in non-English speaking countries like Germany, China or Spain. There are those of us who have lived there for decades and enjoy the confidence of many friends and colleagues.
Embassies are supposed to do that work of promoting the country!! Problems is they are full of cadres who are not qualified to promote the country
This is just an extension of the embassy or gov’t dept promoting PF jobs, these offices need to run like private entities working to targets.
A way to run this effectively is to leverage the embassies. A contractor can sought and hired here, then sent to the remote location, via the embassy. This can be a desk at one of the embassies with an email address, website and a phone number.
This is long overdue and can be done at minimal cost.
#OneZambia
Its shortsighted to just target tourists from developed markets like Europe whilst ignoring african markets.S.A and Kenya do get a good share of their tourists from africa bcoz they know Nairobi & Jo’burg have a good share of western corporations,UN agencies and other nationalities based in the two countries.
No need to open up offices where we already have high commissions or embassies. just a waste of money into pf cadres pockets. open an office where there’s no embay or high commission. you won’t have many tourist for as long as our cities and towns remain in filth. just google Lusaka or Ndola and see photos or videos full of rubbish or papers scattered all over.
why open offices near when you have planned one. e.g you have planned to open in london, why have another one in France , Spain. This is in same Europe- just a waste of tax payers funds.
Have only one each on each continent! that makes sense and will be cheaper as well…
Don’t think some us would be given the opportunity to work in these offices even if we have the qualifications n potential to..but this is a good move…