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The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife says the country has lost over MK40-billion in revenue and 35, 000 Malawians have lost their jobs due to the outbreak of the global coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in the first half of the year 2020.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, Public Relations Officer in the Department of Tourism Sarah Leah Njanji lamented that Covid-19 has affected business opportunities due to cancellation of bookings and travel restrictions which led to a sudden drop in consumer demand of hospitality services.

Njanji said the fall in consumer demand led to an unprecedented fall in international tourism numbers that culminated into revenue decline and loss of jobs.

She said: “The revenue collected in National Parks and Game Reserves has also reduced as a result of reduced patronage.”

“Protection of iconic species and other conservation initiatives are under threat due to loss of livelihoods for communities living close to protected areas.”

“The arts and crafts subsector has also lost business opportunities as they have not been able to sell curios and also the number of people visiting monuments has reduced posing a risk towards conserving and preserving of cultural heritage.”

Meanwhile, the country is in a national tourism month which falls in September every year as designated by the government following the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) declaration of September 27th as Tourism Day.

UNWTO designated the day on the expense of raising awareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstrate how it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide.

Together with UNWTO, Malawi is celebrating this year’s Tourism Day under the theme of ‘Tourism and Rural development.’

In her remarks on the commemoration, Njanji disclosed that the country will hold no public celebrations for the national tourism month in respect of covid-19 pandemic restrictions.

She said instead, the Government will use all sorts of media platforms to disseminate vital information, and that the Department will be available for tourism related requests.

Njanji said: “Through various forms of media, the Department of Tourism in the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife has been able to disseminate information about the theme, linking it with the unprecedented time that we are in and also looking at how domestic tourism can be used to spur recovery from the effects that Covid-19 has had to the industry.”

She said though the pandemic has made the year 2020 challenging one to the sector, the outbreak has also offered the Department an opportunity to consider implementing strategies that will ensure a more resilient, more inclusive and more sustainable tourism sector.

Early September, Minister responsible for Finance and Economic Planning Felix Mlusu presented the 2020/2021 fiscal financial budget where he allocated K58.7 billion in the sectors of energy, natural resources, tourism, environment and forestry.

Responding to the development, Njanji hailed the proposed budget saying the allocation is enough to revamp the sector through carrying out budgeted items.

Njanji said the allocation will be redirected toward: increasing domestic tourism promotion with an overall aim of increasing the number of people travelling within the country; trainings and capacity building for enforcement officers in protected areas to help combat wildlife crime; training communities in problem animal control; promotion of culture for tourism purposes; and capacitating arts stakeholders with trainings.

The pandemic also led to the cancellation of this year’s Takulandirani Malawi International Tourism Expo (MITE), a platform that the nation uses to market the country’s tourism products and services. 

The cancellation affected the sector whereas it failed to host buyers and other exhibitors, disrupting market network opportunity between the local operators and international buyers. 

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