At UN Tourism’s inaugural Africa & Americas Summit on October 3, government leaders from both regions committed to strengthening four pillars of their tourism industries: investment, education, innovation and cultural endeavours. 

On the sidelines of the event in the Dominican Republic, fDi sat down with Zambia’s tourism minister, Rodney Sikumba, to discuss how the government is tackling the first two pillars.  

Zambia, which will host the second edition of the Africa & Americas Summit in 2025, has seen international arrivals return to 86% of pre-Covid levels. To continue on this trajectory, Mr Sikumba is wooing foreign direct investment (FDI) into locations beyond its tourist hotspot, Victoria Falls, and creating a hospitality training system akin to traditional white-collar careers.

Q: Globally, greenfield FDI in tourism has not rebounded since the pandemic. What is Zambia doing to encourage this?

A: Firstly, we need to remember where tourism in Zambia is generally. It was only 20 years ago that it switched from being treated as a public sector to an economic [for-profit] sector. When the United Party for National Development took over as government in 2021, we [accelerated this by] putting the private sector in the driving seat of various facets of the economy, including tourism. 

We’re working to create an easy landing space for FDI through taxes, human capital and [repatriation of] profits. We’ve also introduced incentives to foreign investors that invest above a certain threshold [$1m for 100% foreign shareholding], such as exemptions from import duties on goods needed for the hospitality industry which aren’t produced locally.

We must also remember that when we took office, Zambia had defaulted on its debt [in 2020] and we’ve worked extremely hard to restructure this. Zambia prides itself on its natural resources — its forests, waters, wildlife and minerals — and it’s important the world knows the country is ready for investment. 

Q: What types of projects and parts of the country are you focused on boosting tourism FDI in? 

A: To improve Zambia’s ‘destination readiness’, we need more bed space. Zambia is becoming a venue for destination weddings, and we are looking at opportunities in MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions tourism) as we have the [Mulungushi International Conference Centre] which holds 2500 people. If we’re going to be pumping conferences of that nature into Lusaka, therein lies an opportunity to build accommodation. We are also pushing ecotourism, which requires luxury tented camps.

Privately owned airports are another opportunity. We want to be able to take anything related to tourism and allow the private sector to invest with relative ease. 

Livingstone, home to Victoria Falls, is Zambia’s tourist capital. But our Green, Resilient and Transformational Tourism Development Project — or Great TDP Project — which is [financially supported by] the World Bank, focuses on growing tourism in non-traditional areas. These include Lake Tanganyika in Nsumbu National Park, where we’re looking to do minimal infrastructure development such as road access, water and electricity — things any investor would look for before investing. Other areas are the source of the Zambezi River in the north and Liuwa in the west, home to the second-largest wildebeest migration in Africa. 

Q: Zambia recently hosted its second Hospitality and Tourism Education Summit. Is training’s role within a successful tourism industry often underestimated?

A: Absolutely. It is increasingly important to attach value to the people who work within the sector. Hospitality should be a career from the get go, not becoming a mixologist or waiter because you failed [in another profession]. That’s the reason why we recently embedded travel and tourism into the [high school] curriculum to ensure children picking a career pathway can say: “I'm going to be a manager of a five-star hotel. That is my end game.’’ 

We are also working with the ministry of education to ensure that someone who has trained as a sous chef, for example, has their qualifications equated to a degree in a so-called white-collar job and they are paid what they are due. 

Tourists need to be met with people who understand hospitality. [Otherwise they can tell] their friends: ‘stay away, the service is atrocious’. Instead, we want to make sure that we leave that lasting impression that Zambia is the best place to be.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.