By JUDITH NAMUTOWE –
LIVINGSTONE Tourism Association (LTA) says the 2017 room occupancy for hotels and lodges in the tourist capital remained stagnant at around 35 per cent due to a number of challenges the hospitality industry faced.
LTA chairperson Alexander Mutali said the difference recorded in 2017 was negligible compared to that which was recorded in 2016.
Mr Mutali attributed the poor performance in the sector to poor infrastructure, non availability of funds and the 2016 general elections.
“The highest we have ever heard was recorded in 2008 in the range between 80 and 90 per cent and this was because Government had put into place  a visa waiver which enabled people to move freely.
“Since then room occupancy in the tourist capital has continued   with the downward trend and has never risen,” Mr Mutali said.
He said  roads  from the borders such as  Shesheke /Kazungula   were deplorable  and also  the road coming into Livingstone,  Kafue/ Mazabuka was  in a bad state  thereby discouraging both   local and foreign  tourists to travel.
Mr Mutali explained that because of the poor road network, tourists from Namibia decided not to come this direction using buses.
“We also remained uncompetitive in that taxes were high and this made it an expensive destination…. so all those issues contributed and even today some are still contributing to poor performance of our sector,” he said.
He appealed to Government to step in and help address the many challenges affecting the sector.
Mr Mutali said the association does not anticipate that the industry would do better in 2018 as long as those challenges were not addressed.
He said Livingstone was badly hit in the sense that the area was competing with other three neighbours for the same tourists.
“We are competing with Botswana….. we are competing with Zimbabwe and Namibia at the same time  so if we don’t up our game,  these countries will continue taking advantage of  us,” he said.
Mr Mutali noted that Zimbabwe continued marketing the Victoria Fall on its side causing  tourists to fly into that country exclusively instead of coming into Zambia.