Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife has developed a 20-year tourism investment plan which contains 104 projects in tourism hotspots, of which 10 have already undergone feasibility studies for implementation within 10 years.
Speaking yesterday, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife Michael Usi said the 20-year investment plan is part of the urbanisation pillar of the Malawi 2063 and is aimed at boosting the country’s tourism market share.
According to Usi, it is very saddening to note that the country over the years witnessed the exponential growth of unplanned tourism development especially along the shores of Lake Malawi and the National Tourism Investment Masterplan is a blueprint that will address the challenges of unplanned tourism investment across the country.
“For Malawi to be competitive as a tourist destination, we need high quality tourism facilities and services. As a country, we need to utilise our prime tourist sites for tourism. In spite of the country being blessed with one of the richest natural and cultural resources in the region, Malawi’s share of the international tourism market has been growing slowly.
“One of the reasons for the slow growth is unplanned and low private sector tourism investment in the prime tourism sites which affect the competitiveness of Malawi as a tourist destination.
“The National Tourism Investment plan has been aligned to the Malawi2063 under the Urbanisation pillar which places tourism as a catalyst for tourism development. The implementation of the Masterplan is aligned to the Malawi Implementation Plan (MIP 1) to ensure availability of resources for tourism support infrastructure in the annual budgets,” said Usi.
Usi further added that the Malawi 2063 rightly acknowledges that Malawi has a rich diversity of unique natural, cultural and man-made resources that have not been fully utilized for tourism. Therefore, the masterplan is one of the key instruments that will guide proper and planned development of tourism in the country.
Usi further added that the implementation of the National Tourism Investment Masterplan will involve several stakeholders and not only the Ministry of Tourism.
Some of the institutions to be involved will include the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development; local Councils; Ministry of Lands; Malawi Investment and Trade Centre; Ministry of Forestry and Natural Resources; Public and Private Partnership Commission; financial institutions, among others.
The official launch of the 20-year Tourism National Masterplan will take place on Monday 4 April, 2022 and President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera will launch the National Tourism Investment Masterplan.
