Is Malawi pricing itself out of the global tourism market?

My classmate at the University of Cape Town plans to visit Malawi after I convinced him that it is one of the best holiday destinations.

Those that know me will testify that I am an avid, consummate and tenacious salesperson when I have faith in any cause. I market and sell such cause with zeal and utmost passion. So, it is that with every opportunity as I travel I tend to glorify the wonders of the warm heart of Africa. A lot of Malawians do the same, I believe.

However, I have always wondered why after all the efforts expended over the years in promoting the beauty of Malawi: its charming, peace loving and welcoming people, the easy going and laid back ambience that visitors feel when they are in the country and to put a sweet icing on the cherry, the spellbinding beauty of its lake, the most beautiful lake in Africa and the fourth most beautiful lake in the world, it is puzzlingly to find that Malawi tourism, as an industry,  is not growing.

The experience of last week, gleaned via the lens of my friend, a top rated restaurateur from Cape Town, has revealed one of the key insights as to why Malawi tourism will continue to languish in the doldrums of underdevelopment and stagnation as well as why the main tourists flocking to Malawi are the low end type, the back packers. No disrespect to backpackers, they are great as ambassadors in spreading word about the greatness of Malawi as a tourism haven but they do very little to give Malawi the much needed boost to the economy.

A person like myself, from Nankumba peninsular with such wonderful spots on Lake Malawi as Malembo, Kasankha, Msaka, Cape Maclear, Monkey Bay and its neigbouring bays of Chirombo, Namaso and Nkhudzi; I am intimately acquainted to the wonders that Lake Malawi offers.

Lake Malawi is everyone’s incarnation of a wonderland and as such it is and must always be regarded as a treasure trove for Malawi. That is why a lot of sober Malawians are totally against any moves by any authority or entity to poison it by sanctioning the drilling for oil in the lake for economic gain when the beauty it already has presents Malawi a bigger, better and more sustainable economic exploitation potential than the short term oriented thinking of oil drilling, if we were only a bit more intelligent and used it to its full potential.

Talking about intelligent use of the lake for tourism ,allow me to quote the observation of my friend from Cape Town who after booking his flights to Malawi last week made this observation which I quote:

“Hi Wilkins, hope you’re well and having a good weekend!

“I wanted to clarify my e-mail below – I don’t mind paying the applicable rates for accommodation in Malawi and I don’t expect you to arrange a cheaper rate.

“I’m just concerned about the full 10 nights we’re planning to be in Malawi – I don’t want to pay between $300 and $500 per night every night, and then it’s going to be a very expensive holiday!  My wife and I can visit Zanzibar, Mauritius, Seychelles, Madagascar and Mozambique for eight days for a grand total of approximately $3 500 and less, flights from Cape Town included.

“I don’t want to be presumptuous, but it seems that Malawi is a more expensive place to travel than its neighbours (fewer accommodation options and the available establishments price their rates in dollars and I just want to have a good idea what the whole trip will cost before proceeding.

“Apologies to put you on the spot, but let’s maybe chat tomorrow?  It’s a public holiday in SA so we can chat more or less any time of the day” Regards.’ End of quote.

Need I say more? It is all there for all Malawians to see. No wonder we keep on failing to attract a critical mass of the right caliber of tourists. The high value type.

One can only hope that someone in the tourism industry takes on the challenge on what has been observed. Better still, for those with innovative and entrepreneur instincts to get into this industry and bring more investment, so that there are more units and the prices are globally competitive so that we can make Malawi a truly friendly destination. n