Travel Expo 2010

March 25 saw the launch of the Zambia International Travel Expo 2010 at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre.

The event was flagged off by a breakfast event that was graced by a high powered delegation of government and private sector officials which included two Cabinet Ministers and two Deputy Ministers.

The main conference hall in the new wing was filled with invited guests that were treated to some shows on Zambian tourism punctuated by the usual speech making plus dances and songs.

One could not help thinking that if the rich attendance at this launch comprised of potential customers, and if the venue was Cape Town, or Frankfurt, or Paris, or New York, the immediate response would be a flood of inquiries and bookings for ‘Destination Zambia’.

The reality was that the hall was packed with tour operators, lodge owners, hoteliers, car hire company owners, government officials, organizers, and very few people that would actually make the trip to the many tourist destinations in Zambia.

The Expo may have been designed particularly for the purposes of networking amongst the players in the tourism and travel sector, which includes the private sector, government and members of the public.

The opportunities to directly sell packages and options for travel and tourism may have been the consolation side effects of such a large gathering of investors in the sector.

The 150 plus exhibitors made an impressive show and this years Expo outdid itself when compared to the just under 100 participants that exhibited last year.

After some casual discussions with many of the exhibitors, the question of ‘how does Zambia stand to benefit from the upcoming 2010 World Cup?’ soon came up. The common response from the exhibitors was that no deliberate strategy is in place and each investor has to make a private plan to try to bring business to their companies during the forthcoming football months of June and July.

Some airlines have put in place strategies to acquire more aircraft to add more routes to their current flight schedules, and yet other airlines were considering increasing the frequency of flight between Zambia and South Africa, or introducing larger capacity aircraft to service the current flight schedules thereby increasing the passenger traffic during the World Cup 2010.

These are impressive ideas and initiatives but it is plain to see that there is no national strategy on the drawing board and it is up to each business to develop their own independent programs. One cannot expect to see too much success with an individualistic, haphazard, and uncoordinated approach to exploiting the opportunities for both travel and tourism during the World Cup this year.

It was however, refreshing to see such boisterous looking faces that have hope and expectations stamped on their smiles, even though deep down these faces acknowledge that the stream of tourists expected to come to Zambia will not happen by accident or default. Any appreciable increase in tourism this year will only happen by strategic design and meticulous implementation.

Tourism is not a necessity to human well being as compared to water, food, and sleep. Tourism is a luxury that requires to be planned for, budgeted for, and must be an attractive and hassle free experience.

So, we may want to pause for a moment and ask ourselves: Did last week’s International Travel Expo 2010 really help to launch the country into the World Cup 2010 spirit? What can we do to complement and supplement this effort?

One obvious challenge for Zambian tourism in respect to the World Cup is that there has been very little dialogue within the travel and tourism sector on what the opportunities are, and how they can be exploited by the various investors in the sector.

For example, have we had a stakeholders meeting to help us to understand how a World Cup event is run in the preparatory stages, during the actual games, and after the event? Do we appreciate the pattern of expenditure and time management of visitors to a World Cup event? On average how many games does a person commit themselves to watch live in the stadium? What do World Cup visitors do in-between attending chosen games? How do World Cup participating teams use up their time before, during, and after the tournament? Is there a particular way that players relax and recover after a game?

These are just a few of many questions that one may want to ask and interrogate. It is the answers to these questions that make the basis for a strategy to benefit from this years World Cup event.

The answers will input into how many flights need to be put in place between Lusaka and Johannesburg, or Lusaka and Livingstone. The answers will assist Zambia to decide on how a visitor can obtain a visa to Zambia and at what cost. The answers will prepare the Zambian travel and tourism companies to cater for the anticipated influx of new visitors to the country. The answers will challenge the banking industry to consider the installation of Point Of Sale units in lodges, guest houses, travel agencies, and popular tourist attractions. The answers will drive the airlines to consider their air fares into Zambia from South Africa and the region so that more tourists can be attracted to make a detour from the World Cup and visit the Mosi-O-Tunya and other wonders in Zambia. The answers will provoke the private sector to adjust prices of packages and services offered, to levels that would persuade visitors to the sub continent to stop over in Zambia.

It may be this unfinished business that puts the smiles on private sector faces. The smiles on private sector faces may not necessarily be ones that are generated by good strategy and investment, but that of blind hope, unfounded expectations, and of prayer that something will happen to tilt the scales in our favour.

Published 30 March 2010