Zambia has been voted 2nd best tourist destination to visit in 2016 for the French.
This has been revealed by Zambia’s Ambassador to France, Humphrey Chibanda after receiving the results from Liligo.com who organised the competition.
Liligo.com is an online travel search engine currently present in 13 countries and is the leader of flights’ search engines in France with 2 million searches per month.
Ambassador Chibanda revealed that sometime in March this year, Liligo.com France approached the Zambian Mission in Paris and presented a proposal for Zambia to participate in a competition for the best tourist destination to visit in 2016 for the French.
The Mission took up the challenge and presented the proposal to Zambia Tourism Board who gave the Mission a go ahead to enter the competition.
Ambassador Chibanda said the competition involved sending three well qualified French travel bloggers to three different countries for 14 days and Zambia was drawn together with Canada and Oman.
This is contained in a statement issued by First Secretary at the Zambian Mission in Paris Percy Ngwira.
The travel bloggers left France on 22 September 2015 and returned on the 4th of October, 2015.
The itinerary for the Zambian blogger included South Lungwa National Park, Lower Zambezi, Kafue National, Lusaka and Livingstone under the facilitation of Zambia Tourism Board working in collaboration with the local Zambian tour operators who offered various services to the blogger.
The bloggers were blogging their 14 day travel experiences through various social media platforms while Liligo.com had a dedicated website for the competition and also shared the bloggers travel experiences on their official social media platforms.
The voting which was done online started from the day the bloggers were dispatched to the various destinations and closed on October 14, 2015 with Canada taking up the first position with 52.4 per cent votes and Zambia participating for the first time coming in the second place as a must visit destination for the French in 2016 with 31.4 per cent votes while Oman in the same group came last with 16.2 per cent votes.
Giving feedback at the Zambian Mission in Paris, Fabrice Dubesset the travel blogger who had traveled to Zambia said Zambia is a must see tourist destination for those seeking authentic unexplored destinations.
“You know as a travel blogger I have had a chance to travel to many destinations around the world in all the five continents, but the experience I had in Zambia was just amazing, at one point I thought I was watching a documentary on National Geographical and yet it was real,” Mr Fabrice said.
He said before travelling to Zambia he had done research about the destination and one thing that was true from his research findings is that the Zambian people are one of the most friendly and helpful people that you can ever meet.
“Wherever I went I felt like home and you really have an amazing country” Mr Fabric said.
The travel blogger further, informed Ambassador Chibanda that he was amazed at the sheer abundance of wildlife in South Lungwa National Park and lower Zambezi.
Mr Fabrice also noted that the accommodation facilities even those located in national parks are amazingly comfortable.
On Livingstone, Mr Fabrice told Mr Chibanda that Livingstone was a must be for adrenaline lovers and the Victoria Falls was must be on the list of any tourist to Africa.
“I think Victoria Falls is amazing both from land and from above by helicopter I think it is one of the must be on the list of places to see for any tourist to Africa”, the travel blogger said.
The Kwacha is at a record low its now very very cheap to come to Zambia than go to any other country
That’s the more reason we should all be flying Zambia Airways again … Charles de Gaulle Airport is one of the best airports in the world. Bon Voyage … new non-stop flights to Paris, we already have one profitable route right there.
The smart people of the Zambian Enterprise always have something going for them.
Authenticity … we are some of the most authentic people on the planet. We are real, nothing plastic about us and we are proud and free. We face every challenge head on, our spirits are strong and our love for other human beings, infallible.
Stand and sing of Zambia, proud and free … ladies and gentlemen!
This we have always known and we keep telling the PF, let us diversify our economy. We could close the mines and make lots of money just from tourism, but what does PF Jean Kapata do….lift ban on cat hunting. People, lets wise up and get ride of Edgar and team next year. We need a leadership with a vision and a business mind
Liligo.com I s small unknown website. Give us statistics coming from reputable sources that matter, not just mere rhetoric.
Don’t kid yourselves
The competition drew three countries. Canada, Oman and Zambia. Of course Zambia will be second. What white person in their right mind wants to vacation in Oman, a country right next to Yemen with Muslim fundamentalist, radicals and terrorists just waiting in the wings to kidnap some white European? If the competition had drawn 50 countries, I may say bravo Zambia. But 3 countries and Oman among them? What a joke!
Make that a Global Rating!
Iwe chibanda,why are not mentioning my name in appreciation of my blogging efforts??!,,, anyway I know you PF cadres, you like claiming glory which you didn’t work for
The writing is on the wall….even now tourists are flocking to Zambia. Unfortunately HH and his minions cannot see this.
@Kidongo. Stop distorting facts. The article does not say “Tourists are flocking to Zambia”. It says “Zambia has been voted 2nd best tourist destination to visit in 2016 “.
It is a fact and we keep saying it. Zambia is a great potential. It is a beautiful country. Under a proper leadership we can rake in US$ billions through tourism.
Sadly under the current mediocre leadership, it will never happen. Remember how even a God given event like the UNWTO which left most tour operators and curio traders in Zambia in debts. That is PF for you.
Good news but who came first and where is the who list? ?
You should be reading first rather rash to comment, to your your own words ..how laughable. The information is in the story
Good news but who came first and where is the whole list? ?
You should be reading first rather rash to comment, to your your own words ..how laughable. The information is in the story
The current state of the kwacha is sweet for us outside the country. Its almost one on one with the Rand, so where I was supposed to spend say R100000 for a K60 000 plot six months ago, today I will spend roughly R65000 and by the way the petrol has become cheaper in Zambia than here in Mzansi, interesting isn’t it?
AT LEAST HERE IS ONE LIGHT MOMENT FOR ZAMBIA. GOD HAS ALREADY BLESSED ZAMBIA, ONLY WE HAVE GREEDY PEOPLE AS OUR LEADERS IN GOVERNMENT.
I agree with @Truth. In fact some one once said What stands between Africa and Greatness are its own leaders”
We need genuine and selfless leadership. Not hypocritical characters using government as a guise to amass personal wealth. They do more harm to the countries than good hence they should be flushed out.
So very true
Its the effort and policies of President Edgar Chagwa Lungu and the PF Government that have started to yield the results and not the egocentric kachema rhetoric and bitterness! More good news to come in our great nation. Remember the new Jubilee has just started. Have not seen that the copper prices have started rising again?
Whilst someone is dreaming, things are happening for mother Zambia, God bless Zambia and NO masonists shall reign in your land.
Great news. A mission that is actually doing its work.
The site is unknown to many french but kudos to the staff at our mission,i watched a good likely tourist promotion on AMAZING RACE,with the constants in livingstone,batoka.my caucasians workmates watched the show too and they are planning a big trip to zambia,next year.
I do my own Zambia promotion with the Zambia bumper sticker on my car.
3 Participants.
You are no 2.
You ululate!?
hey ba Donqueen, don’t rain on this parade. You know how we roll here in Zambia. Mediocrity is bliss.
ha!
Come to chilubi island for eco tourism.
True due to corruption in politics our tourism development is really going at a very slow pace, what a pity.