TOURISM SET FOR SIGNIFICANT GROWTH

By BUSINESS REPORTER ZAMBIA`S tourism sector is poised to grow significantly with sustained marketing and information sharing, Zambia Tourism Agency (ZTA) chief executive officer Felix Chaila has said.

Mr Chaila observed that tourism remained one of the fastest growing and most important economic sectors in the world.

He was speaking yesterday at a media briefing in Lusaka where he also announced the launch of the Livingstone International Culture and Arts Festival (LICAF) aimed at showcasing the country`s culture and tourism found in all 10 provinces.

The conference to take place from May 24th to 26, this year will be held side by side with the Zambian Breweries' "Mosi Day of Thunder.”

These two events will complement each other and culminate into the grand finale of LICAF.

Mr Chaila explained that the main objective of LICAF was to show case Zambia's rich cultural heritage and also increase tourist arrivals not only in Livingstone but also in other parts of the country.

Mr Chaila said 10 countries were expected to participate at LICAF out of which five had already confirmed.

He said Seychelles, Malawi, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, China, Botswana and Namibia had confirmed participation.

"LICAF activities will include good-tasting, cultural panorama and a street procession that will pass through communities enroute to the Central Business District before terminating," he said.

He said significant growth of the tourism sector would continue especially for emerging destinations like Zambia.

He observed the need to lend convincing support to the industry's own efforts to become more competitive by focusing on quality and sustainability.

"This country needs to be part of the growth statistics and we are heading in the right direction. So far, our 2017 statistics show that we got one million Mark of tourist arrivals in Zambia. We can still do far much better once we engage in continuous marketing and information sharing on various tourism products," he said.