Find Tourism and Travel partners in Zambia
- Overview
- Investment
Overview
Travel and tourism is a growing industry in Zambia and contributed 5% of GDP in 2011, which is forecast to rise by 7.0% in 2012 according to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC). The WTTC ranks Zambia 148th out of 181 countries in terms of relative contribution of tourism to GDP, below the world average. The sector accounts for around 3.7% (58,000 jobs) of total employment, which was also expected to rise by 2.0% in 2012 (2011). Of total exports in 2011, visitor exports accounted for 2.0% according to the WTTC. There were 815,000 tourist arrivals to the country in 2010.
Investment
The Tourism Council of Zambia is the umbrella organisation representing the travel and tourism industry and is responsible for promoting tourism abroad. The Zambia National Tourist Board issues licences and authorisations which guarantee the quality of a service. Ecotourism has great scope for investment as Zambia is the home of some of the most famous and impressive natural sites in Africa. The Victoria Falls, once described as mosi-oa-tunya or ‘the smoke that thunders’, and its connection with Dr Livingstone, draws in daredevils and history lovers alike, with bungee jumping and microlite flights available around the falls. There are also many other natural tourism attractions with lakes, falls and national parks around the country. Cultural tourism is an important element of the country’s tourism sector; copper mining and railways are an important part of Zambian history and form the focus of several museums’ collections. In addition, galleries and museums with national history and traditional and contemporary art are also popular. Other tourism organisations include the Zambia Tourism Board.
In 2011 investment in the travel and tourism sector was ZMK318.4bn, constituting 1.9% of total investment. This was expected to rise by 4.2% in 2012, and then continue to rise by 7.7% pa over the following ten years, reaching ZMK696.3bn by 2022.