The Department of Tourism in Malawi has partnered Travelproof, a marketing firm from The Netherlands, to help increase market visibility of the country’s tourism sector.
The department issued tenders for market representatives in selected key markets such as China, The Netherlands and Germany.
Through this partnership, all operators licensed by the Tourism and Hotels Board and those who pay tourism levy stand to benefit.
Speaking in Blantyre last week, deputy director of tourism Sosten Lingwalanya said the partnership, will see an increase of tourists from Dutch-speaking countries.
“We expect that more operators in Malawi will have more businesses and linkages with key buyers in The Netherlands as well as profiling Malawi tourism brand in Dutch-speaking markets,” he said.
Lingwalanya said the Dutch are the biggest tourists from Europe; hence, engagement of a marketing firm from The Netherlands.
Travelproof managing partner Harry Betist said Malawi has a variety and unique selling points to offer to Europeans.
“What I have seen is that Malawi is an ideal place for the Dutch”
In her remarks, one of local tourism operators Naomi Phoya, who is also senior tourist consultant for Jambo Africa, thanked the Department of Tourism for linking up with other operators from Europe.
“This public relations firm will be our eyes and ears in Dutch-speaking countries.
“It is hard to get tourists from European countries if you don’t have anyone representing you,” she said.
Tourism contributes about seven percent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the Malawi Government Annual Economic Report 2016. n
