Amazing conversation! Thank you to our speakers @justrioba The Kenyan Yogi🧘🏽‍♀️ Njeri Gachuhi and all the listeners who shared their insights. If you missed it, you can listen here, but we will have a cleaned up version up on our podcast on Friday x.com/i/spaces/1zqKV… #ZedaTalks

Destination Review (Thread) Villa Teranga, Accra 🏖️

For By The Way, Leigh Giangreco writes about how aspiring travel experts are using TikTok, Instagram and other online tools to diversify a space that has long ignored them washingtonpost.com/travel/2022/01…

The economic policy angle to the insistence & debate on opening a new mine in LZ as opposed to strengthening & improving tourism servuces in that area is a big sign we're not serious about the economic diversification we keep singing about in our policy papers. How sad! #Zambia

skift.com/2022/02/03/uga…

📣Calling all Black and specifically African writers and creators 📣 we look forward to reading all your pitches for our 3rd issue “Africa is not a country”, to apply please follow the 🔗 tinyurl.com/yckhuec7 💕 🌍 🙈 #journorequests Writers of Color

A travel writer tweeted her salary and reignited a trend: ‘I just want people to get paid’ washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022…

I wrote a little something, please have a read. #LowerZambezi #Kasanka #Conservation

There are resorts in this country to which tourists arrive having paid for a package in South Africa. Some tourists not even know they are in Zambia - they are just in Africa. They arrive and leave and don't spend a ngwee in Zambia. They don't buy even a pair of earrings. Why??

The tourists who come to these exclusive resorts probably don't know there're people living in unspeakable poverty close to them. People who, with their ancestors, are the owners of the beauty around them. Tourists know of only zebras, lions & an "untouched" earth. Why???

Tourists come to resorts in Zambia and do not even know they are in Zambia. They pay for package deals in SA. Jump from Table Mountain to the Jyger to the Victoria Falls. They arrive here and do not spend even a ngwee, don't buy even a pair of earrings and not encouraged to.

If we want local Zambians living in areas like the Lower Zambezi to care about saving its pristine beauty, they must own it beyond the bones of their ancestors buried in the soil under the tourists feet.

Laura Miti Good points here, but issues are more complex than how it’s been presented. Plenty opportunities at all levels for a more competitive AND inclusive tourism sector, but takes vision, collaboration, political will and an enabling environment…all of which need to be boosted a lot.

Who is the target of majority Tourism Destinations in Zambia since much of the them are out of reach of majority Zambians?

MsZakiya Laura Miti 1) General cost of doing business. DNPW charges a lot for prime tourism concessions. Tack on all the licenses necessary to operate, and it adds up.

MsZakiya Laura Miti 2) Many of these places are in very remote areas. Purchase and transport of building/maintenance materials, food and other service-oriented products costs a lot. Boats, game drive vehicles, large solar power systems, etc. It can be heavy up-front and ong-going investment.

MsZakiya Laura Miti 3) The levies and other fees charged by DNPW or other government agencies are high. Even for camping in national parks, DNPW takes a hefty cut. Incentives for tourism sector investments are very minimal in the overall picture.

MsZakiya Laura Miti 4) The TIME it takes to organise concessions, negotiate with DNPW and other government organisations can be astronomical. I personally know of tourism concession applications/negotiations that have taken in excess of one year with some longer.

MsZakiya Laura Miti 5) Marketing costs can be very high. Attending trade fairs internationally or regionally is expensive and requires up-front investment.

MsZakiya Laura Miti 6) We have to think of tourism as an industry. Just like people have options to buy an IST or a Ferrari, a basic digital watch or a Rolex. Products are developed for different markets and consumers. Only a few can justify Rolexes, Ferrarris or super high-end tourism consumption.