Sikwela’s fact-finding mission

WHEN Tourism and Arts permanent secretary Howard Sikwela who was recently transferred from the Ministry of Community Development and Social Welfare arrived in Livingstone, from onset, his intentions were clear.
“I am not here for luxury or sightseeing,” he declared. “I am here to hear the views from my officers and departments to not only acquaint myself with the ministry, but to also see and hear firsthand information on the challenges and see how best we can promote the sector,” Reverend Sikwela said.

Viewing White Rhinos in the Mosi-oa-tunya national park.

With a game ranger

Simply put, he was here on not only a fact -finding visit, but also to familiarise himself with the operations.
His two-day tour and stay in the tourist capital saw him visit among other places, the Livingstone Museum, the Railway and Jewish Museum, the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park, the National Art Gallery and also the Maramba Cultural Village that was gutted in August 2016.
While there, Rev Sikwela said a budget had been set aside for the rebuilding of the cultural village that he said was quite important for the preservation of culture and tourism development.
“A sum of close to K2 million has been set aside in this year’s budget for the rebuilding of this facility. As soon as the funds are released, we shall move in and rebuild it,” he said.
Nevertheless, Vincent Kamwanya, the coordinator at the Maramba Cultural Village, said the gutted village earned K107, 000 revenue in 2017.
“Forty percent of which was deposited into government’s Control 99 Account and before that, the village collected K150, 000 in 2015,” he said.
Patronage to the place has dropped because of lack of supporting structures. The auditorium is, however, fully functional but it too needs to be refurbished as its walls have started to develop cracks.
“We need to diversify the economy from mining. Tourism is different from these other sectors. Let’s be creative enough and see how we can create revenue and stop depending on handouts from Government all the time,” Rev Sikwela said. “See what kind of marketing you can do to promote these structures.”
He also toured the Victoria Falls, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. And there, his concern was on the ticketing office.
Many feel it lacks the cultural aspect of what it tries to sell.
John Zulu, the site manager at the Victoria Falls said the point raked in K3.8 million revenue in 2017.
About 149, 630 people visited the site in 2017, a slight drop compared to 154,755 recorded in 2016.

At the Victoria Falls with Zulu and Jocelyn Mutinta

Rev Sikwela also met with tour operators in Livingstone who raised a number of concerns.
Among the issues raised was high taxes which the operators feel disadvantaged Zambia over its neighbours Zimbabwe, Bostwana and Namibia.
Livingstone mayor Eugene Mapuwo told Rev Sikwela that his office has received numerous queries from the tour operators regarding the newly introduced taxes.
“I don’t even know what to tell them anymore,” he said.
Mr Mapuwo said in order for tourism to thrive and the country to beat the competition from neighbours, the tourist capital should be made a tax-free zone.
“We have people that are favouring Zimbabwe over us because of our taxes which in most cases fall back on the clients,” he said. “We have tourists who are just using Zambia and Livingstone as a transit point to go to Zimbabwe because the activities there are cheaper than here.”
On his entourage, Rev. Sikwela had heads of departments from his ministry.
The other place he touched was the Department of National Parks and Wildlife where he held talks with management before taking time to visit the Mosi-oa-Tunya National Park to check on the white rhinos the park boasts of.

At the Railway Jewish Museum

In 2016, the park recorded 20, 278 visitors of which 7, 728 where international and 12, 550 were local tourists. In terms of revenue, the visits translated into K3.6 million for that year whereas the amount almost doubled to K6.5 million in 2017.
“In 2017, we had 10, 334 international visitors and 11, 615 local tourists,” said the area warden.
The Mosi-oa-Tunya Park is unique because of its 12 white rhinos, one of the world’s most endangered species and on the brink of extinction. The park also has other animals, except those in the cat family.
In terms of the human-animal conflict, the park area recorded four deaths by an elephant and of course crocodile attacks.

At the Livingstone Museum.

“We are always trying to sensitise the people on how to interact with the animals but you know sir, some of our tourists want to get as close enough to the animals as those in the zoo,” said Mr Daka.
His thoughts after the tour?
Key among them was the issue of collaboration between departments under the ministry. He wondered why for instance, the Maramba Cultural Village could always be a target for elephants when it is close to the DNPW gate.
He also wondered why there was little or in some instances no vigorous marketing of some tourist sites such as the National Art Gallery.
He challenged all the workers to ‘die a little’ and go out of their way and market some sites, especially to the locals so that they can in turn do so to potential foreign tourists.
“Let us create the hype ourselves. Let us talk about these things. Let’s go into schools and tell the people that these things exist and are there for them. This is our baby,” he said.