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| Business |
| Govt ponders new tourism marketing fund |
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by
Moses Michael-Phiri, 13 February 2007
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04:22:54
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The Ministry of Information and Tourism is pondering the introduction of a new destination marketing fund to replace a similar fund abolished in 2002.
In May last year government indicated that it wanted to revive the destination marketing fund whose major source of funding was from hotel service levies removed in 2004.
Isaac Msiska, director of tourism in the Ministry of Information and Tourism, said in an interview yesterday the ministry was looking at ways of establishing a new fund that will have the responsibilities the market development fund had.
“Tourism marketing is very important and for Malawi to succeed in promoting tourism it need to have a strong marketing fund. Currently, we are working on a new destination marketing fund which will be funded by other means other than levies,” he said.
Msiska said the destination marketing fund that was abolished relied heavily on service charges, a developement that translated into higher hotel charges.
He said the public and private sector can also have a role to play in marketing Malawi through own bronchures and newsletters.
Msiska said he believed the new destination marketing fund shall have a big impact on his department’s efforts to sell Malawi abroad.
The removal of the destination marketing fund and hotel service charges drew mixed reactions in the hospitality sector as others felt the two complemented government efforts to sell the country.
But government was optimistic that the removal of the charges would boost the tourism sector as hotel services charges were expected to drop. |
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