TOURISM is one of the priority sectors for the country and has the potential to become one of the major foreign exchange (FOREX) earners.
The country has massive potential and a lot of unexplored tourist attractions which if well-harnessed could result into a boom for the sector, with entailing economic benefits.
One of the factors which have hampered the growth of the sector is lack of or inadequate marketing of the various resorts and attractions to would-be tourists locally and outside the country.
While domestic tourism can greatly contribute towards revenue generation in the sector, attraction of foreign tourists boost forex and that is imperative if the value of the Kwacha – against major convertible currencies – is to be bettered.
It is, therefore, relieving that 50 tour operators from the United States of America (USA) have been in Livingstone to package the city’s tourism products and sell them to tourists in their country.
This is encouraging in that the move will boost the marketing of the sector especially in such countries like the USA with vast tourism markets.
We further hail the leaders in South Africa’s tourism industry who, in partnership with the Regional Tourism Organisation of Southern Africa (RETOSA), brought in these tour operators.
Such projects aimed at marketing the tourism products in the region should be encouraged because they are helping to cement the relationships within the region and augment the market.
The Zambia Tourism Board (ZTB) and other stakeholders who are charged with the responsibility of marketing the sector should always take advantage of such opportunities which are aimed at forging joint efforts.
There is need for the local operators also to fully support the sector in the region by coming up with joint or combo tourism package for the tourists.
This can be achieved by ensuring that tour operators and other players in the industry forge links with their counterparts in other countries.
For instance, one package could consist of some resorts and attractions in Zambia as well as in other countries and marketed together.
It is high time that the players in different countries of the region started complementing one another instead of competing every time because tourists would like to sample the diverse African hospitalities.
That can only be achieved if tourists are enabled to visit different countries of Africa under single packages.
Tourists, world over, should know that Zambia has more to offer than just the mighty Victoria Falls and that Livingstone is just the national capital for the sector and not the only tourism area.
For Zambia, the biggest hurdle is to lure a tourist to the country because once that is done no one would need to persuade such tourists  to return because they will become addicted to it.
This is evident from the comments of some of the USA operators visiting Livingstone.
One of them said she was visiting Africa and Zambia for the first time and she was impressed with what she found in terms of tourism.
Another one said she loved the country after visiting it for the first time because everything she saw was authentic, not forgetting the infectious hospitality of the local people.
Yet another tour operator says the natural beauty coupled with massive wildlife as well as the joy of the local people are attractive to tourists.
That is a natural asset, which, if competing with other countries for tourist attraction through the citizens’ generosity, Zambia would remain number one.
But not every tourist knows about that hence the need for local players in the sector to intensify the marketing of the industry so that more potential tourists are given the ultimate choice.
Tourists cannot come to Zambia unless they know about it and they cannot know about it unless somebody tells them about it.