Rama Nathan opens another page in tourism history
By EDWARD MULENGA
VISITS such as the recent one by the President of Singapore, Sellapan Rama Nathan, to Livingstone are some of the rare opportunities that countries like Zambia must utilise to forge links to boost certain sectors and attract investment.
Considering that a head of state is literally the integral part of a government’s economic agenda, on which the country’s destiny partly rests, it was an honour for Livingstone to host such an important tourist.
What was even more interesting on that day, May 1, was the fact that Mr Rama Nathan’s private visit was centred on seeing the Victoria Falls and the joy he exhibited during the tour of the world heritage site. The curiosity and amazement from him and his accompanying 30 ministers and other staff was visible, save for the time and security considerations of his men.
“I have heard so much about the Victoria Falls and the historical words; ‘David Livingstone I presume’, which have always given me fond memories of history,’’ Mr Rama Nathan said in reference to the words uttered by a journalist, Henry Morton Stanley, who was sent by the Mission in Scotland to verify reports that David Livingstone had died, when he met him at a place called Ujiji.
During the tour of the Victoria Falls, it was interesting to see the zeal that other people are engulfed with upon seeing the world wonder, which many Zambians, however, do not itch to see.
As a matter of fact, Singapore is one of the tiger economies in Asia with a proportionally very significant export portfolio, of varied merchandise ranging from clothing to automotives to various parts of the world.
With the news from President Rama Nathan that Singapore, whose population is about four million, receives 10 million tourists every year, it leaves Zambia desirous and yearning for more tourists, while at the same time it clearly exposes Zambia’s minimal marketing of its tourism. If one imagined receiving over 12 million tourists, more than Zambia’s population, it is not hard to estimate how much revenue Zambia would generate. It is for this reason that such information served as a challenge on the marketing and calls for serious revision of the strategy; perhaps through forging of links with countries like Singapore that have excelled in such a sector.
President Rama Nathan says the Victoria Falls is the best of all waterfalls in the world and assured that the publicity about it from his country’s media would attract more Singaporeans to visit the world wonder.
Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources, Kabinga Pande, led the Singaporean leader and his entourage on the tour, which brought out enthusiasm from the visiting delegation.
Mr Rama Nathan said the Victoria Falls was one of the wonders of the world, but none of the other waterfalls he had seen in the world could be compared to the Mosi-Oa-tunya and commended the Government of Zambia for providing facilities for viewers to see the falls from all angles.
The president also encouraged Zambians to put their efforts together in marketing the Victoria Falls which he said could be of greater economic benefit for the country.
Asked whether he would help Zambia market the falls in Singapore, to attract the Singaporeans into Zambia, the visiting head of state assured that his media would publicise the good news about the falls now that he had seen it for himself. He also assured that the people of Singapore would want to come and visit the ‘smoke that thunders’.
The leader said apart from the Victoria Falls, Zambia had wildlife, but emphasised the need to market the falls through concerted efforts.
“You have something real, try to promote it,” the Singaporean leader said about the Victoria Falls.
And Mr Pande took advantage of the private visit to showcase Zambia’s tourism potential, the liberal and conducive investment climate the country offers.
The minister is confident the visit by the Singapore an president and his delegation will spur more tourists to Zambia, after more information about Zambia reaches that country.
Based on the delegation’s assured publicity about the Victoria Falls, to ultimately spur more visitors from there, Zambia’s task is to increase marketing of its tourism and provide infrastructure.
“ The visit by the Singaporean President to the Victoria Falls is a booster to our tourism sector; I foresee many more Singaporeans coming in to view the Victoria Falls after getting the information about it from this delegation.”
“So you can see from this that our biggest challenge is marketing,’’ the minister said.
Mr Pande said the 30 ministers and other members of the president’s entourage, who admitted not having heard about the Victoria Falls, said they were amazed at what they had seen and assured him they would encourage others to visit it.
Inviting Singaporean investors, Mr Pande stressed that the peace and liberal investment atmosphere in Zambia offered an enabling environment for business since those were among pre-requisites of a secure investment.
“Zambia has a liberal investment policy. We have no exchange controls. Investors are able to remit their dividends without any Government interference. So, Singapore investors are welcome to invest in Zambia,’’ he said.
Realising the significance of the tourism sector for the nation’s foreign exchange, Mr Pande said the Government has given priority to the sector as a key foreign exchange earner and is, therefore, doing more to prop it up further because it was not like the mining sector where Copper was a wasting asset.
He said if Singapore, which had about four million people received over 10 million tourists every year, Zambia could also raise its tourist arrivals and earnings by forging links with the Asian country in the area of marketing.
Zambia, he said, had over 100 other waterfalls in Luapula and Northern provinces apart from the Victoria Falls which the Government was marketing vigorously together with other tourist attractions in other parts of Zambia to widen the tourist visitations.
The minister also said as per 2005 statistics, the tourism sector was growing at 2.5 per cent but the target was to increase to eight per cent of gross domestic products(GDP) by 2010, by which year would have managed to be receiving one million tourists annually.
Zambia also has 34 game management areas and 19 national parks, which are also significant tourist attractions and areas which could boost the investments of those to venture into tourism.
“But I must emphasise that the greatest asset of tourism are its friendly people, who have also extended their peace beyond borders by brokering where there had been conflicts,” said the elated Singapore president, who also bought some curios after viewing the Victoria Falls.
From the enthusiasm the Asian delegation had on seeing the falls, Mr Pande’s plea to Zambians to engage themselves more actively in local tourism was worthwhile, whether as investors or as tourists so that they appreciate what their country has.
The need for infrastructure refurbishment has made it expedient for programmes such as the World Bank funded Support for Economic Expansion and Diversification (SEED) to speed up.
Despite concerns from stakeholders about the slow progress of the SEED project, Mr Pande assured that it is progressing well, but had seemingly delayed at first because of complicated World Bank procurement procedures, which were, however, resolved with the Government and other stakeholders.
Among the projects undertaken under SEED are the Mukuni Park and the Livingstone Museum rehabilitation. Rehabilitation of roads will commence in July, 2007 and the project will also go to the Kafue National Park.
It is therefore, a blessing to have received an important visitor as the president of Singapore, one of the powerful Asian economies, and also timely to scrutinise Zambia’s tourism marketing and promotion and patch up where there is need.
This could be done by taking a leaf from Singapore which has managed to reach tourist arrivals of 10million every year, far more than its four million population.
