Zambia is doubling its marketing budget to support tourism, after the government recognised it as a priority sector.
Sharing the news with TTG, Zambia Tourism Agency’s chief executive Matongo Matamwandi confirmed that key source markets, including the UK, Europe and the US, would get 70% of the budget, with the rest going towards China, India and Gulf Cooperation Council countries. He declined to reference the size of the budget but confirmed it was a “drastic increase”.
Trade will also absorb the majority of the budget, he said: “We’ve realised that the trade has a lot of influence on consumers,” explained Matamwandi. “We’ll also be looking for tourism ambassadors in our key source markets, which will be a trade-facing role. This year we’ve focused on PR, next year we’ll look to do more with the trade.”
Additional government funds have been allocated, he said, to sponsor both a Premier League and a Spanish LaLiga club for a season, with talks currently underway to secure deals: “We want to use football to create more long-term awareness,” he said.
The injection of funding was prompted by surveys carried out in Zambia’s key source markets, which revealed gaps in consumer knowledge: “We discovered we are not a well-known destination,” said Matamwandi. “We need to put more effort, more money, more energy into the brand visibility of our destination, and that starts with the trade.”
He said that consumers had demonstrated knowledge of Victoria Falls, but the research highlighted that they don’t connect the waterfalls with Zambia.
Safari will be another focus area, he said, to emphasise Zambia’s high concentration of wildlife in their natural habitats. “In some countries, you can go for a game drive and see more vehicles than animals – that’s not Zambia. Our wildlife habitats are as natural as when God created them.”
He added: “We have the highest concentration of hippos in the world – 45,000 in total – and we have the second largest wildebeest migration after the Serengeti. And lesser-known but thrilling to see – the Kasanka Bat Migration is the world’s largest mammal migration, which takes place annually in Zambia’s Kasanka National Park from October to December.”
A further selling point was the peaceful nature of the Zambian people, he said. With no history of a war of independence, the country has experienced five democratic elections, and has 73 different tribes living in harmony. “Our customer service is naturally ingrained, from the airport to the hotel to the tour experience, no training is needed,” he said.
New offerings on the horizon for Zambia include Anantara’s Kafue River Tented Camp, offering 12 private luxury tents with access to boat and skipper; Kutandala Camp; and the reopening of Chichele Presidential Lodge, originally constructed in 1972 as a personal holiday home for ex-Zambian president Dr Kenneth Kaunda.
