Tourism Development in Zambia

In January 2017 The Ministry of Tourism announced the development of a Tourism Master Plan as a priority and the EU agreed to fund a six month programme to achieve their aims. I will be part of the steering committee and hope to be able to help draft a progressive document to drive tourism.

In a recent study commissioned by Luangwa Safari Association (LSA) and the National Parks Authority (DNPW), the economic contribution of the South Luangwa National Park (SLNP) was explored. Tourism in the Mfuwe area generates around $26m a year for the Zambian economy. $2.6m of which is spent in the local Zambian businesses that support the wildlife economy (see figure 1 below). The majority of activities that generating this income are undertaken in a small area.

So how did this happen?

The vision of leaders in the 1960/70s helped with the creation of National Parks and infrastructure. Zambia’s First President HE Kenneth Kaunda was passionate about the SLNP and drove policy and investment. Mfuwe airport, a decent airport road to the National Park and a bridge over the Luangwa helped. Then Zambia was assisted by the Norwegian funding for infrastructure, including the road network in the park and the park headquarters. Chiefs in the area also contributed by their willingness to facilitate land acquisition by investors outside the SLNP, which coupled with the liberalization of the Zambian economy in the 1990s created an environment for success.

The Game Management Areas (GMAs) I mentioned in the last edition currently underperform, providing insufficient “incentives to conserve”. However, they do offer another option for the expansion of our industry. There is an opportunity if we link national parks through airstrips and roads, as well as enhance the status of GMAs - that are supposed to be buffers to the national parks - so that they complement each other.

As far as I am aware Zambia currently has no “private reserves” for safari tourism where the landlord is the community on customary land. Much of Botswana’s tourism is conducted on community land rather than National Parks.

In our planning we should consider how some GMAs can offer additional opportunities for the expansion of safari tourism. Hunting has its place and does work as a conservation activity in the right areas if regulated properly. But in areas that border successful national parks, where safari tourism is already the greatest provider of benefits to communities, we should look at how these GMAs can increase those benefits and provide local people with ways to become actively involved in tourism. Certainly as landlords and custodians, if not as operators.

One of the biggest hurdles faced is a lack of trust from the traditional leaders. They look back to when National Parks were first created and fear that if they turn their lands over to “community parks” they may lose them entirely.

So we have to get the model right; secure tenure for investors balanced with ownership of lands to remain with the communities, the right level of access into the protected area for the people, yet protecting resources enough for wildlife tourism to ‘pay off’ - it has to pay off as the basis of the model.

I hope that the forthcoming ‘Master Plan’ will help us decide where to put roads and airstrips, which parks to place hotels in, which GMAs should be targeted to become “community parks”, which parks to leave as wilderness destinations and, above all, how we can attract more tourists to this great country!