Zambia Tourism Board calls for reduced air fares to boost tourist arrivals

LIVINGSTONE, Zambia – Zambia Tourism Board has called for reduced air fares into Livingstone to boost tourist arrivals.

Speaking in Livingstone during a media briefing, ZTB chief executive officer Felix Chaila said over 60 percent of the tourist coming into the city are locals.

“Livingstone can still do better if we improved on logistics. There is a need to ensure that air fares into Livingstone are cheaper,” he said.

Mr Chaila said last year, Livingstone recorded an increase of over 300 percent growth in the Meeting, Incentives, Conferences and Events
(MICE) sub sector of tourism.

He said, compared to 2014, when the city registered a 400 percent growth in conferences and meetings, this is a reduction in MICE.

Meanwhile, ZTB is targeting attracting 10,000 tourists to join in celebrating this year’s Livingstone International Culture and Arts Festival (LICAF).

Mr Chaila urged people to book the accommodation in advance for the festival scheduled for the Easter holiday period.

“We are targeting 5,000 to 10,000 that should come to the carnival, we want to ensure that the event is self-propelling. We are targeting 10 countries out of which six have already confirmed their participation,” he said.

The six countries which have confirmed participation are South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Seychelles, Zimbabwe and Namibia, while Egypt is waiting for ZTB to confirm the logistics.

Mr Chaila said LICAF national organising committee in Lusaka is already sitting to plan for the event.

“The team will ensure that it advertises in the neigbhoring countries, so that they can be more people coming to the event. We are also looking at more advertising of the event through the social media,” he said.

He said apart from holding festivals in the city centre, it will also be extended to residential areas while junior carnivals will be held in schools.