By Wesley Ngwenya
There is now less than 100 days before the FIFA 2010 World Cup kicks off in South Africa. Here in Zambia there is little or nothing that is being done by authorities to take advantage of this big event in our front yard. What exactly is wrong with our leaders?
A fortnight ago I visited the ministry of tourism to find out what they were planning, here in Zambia, as far as the world cup was concerned. There seemed to have been no one particularly responsible for this.
After running around and bouncing from office to office I was referred to the Zambia Tourism Board Managing Director who was too busy and still waiting for a call from him.
My take is that since Zambia is pretty much a neighbor to South Africa, the government should have taken front seat in attracting tourists as they come to watch the big game.
The region will be expecting a lot of tourists from around the world who will be spending quite a substantial amount of money. Zambia could take advantage of these visitors by promoting some of our best tourism destinations.
In fact, it is perhaps only in Zambia that you can experience Banji jumping, water rafting, canoeing, sky diving, gliding, game hunting, etc all in one destination.
These sports can all be experienced right around the Mosi-o-Tunya Falls in Livingstone. The Mosi-o-Tunya Falls is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
The Zambian experience does not just end with Livingstone. Zambia is a home to thousands of species of beautiful and colorful birds.
We have some of the best wildlife in our national game parks. There is the spectacular South Luangwa National Park with hundreds of kilometers of wildlife.
Not far from this park there is Mfuwe also with its different specifies of antelopes. Then there is Kafue and Mosi-o-Tunya National Parks in the south with its elephants, giraffes, and zebras.
These are just some of the few things one can experience in Zambia the real Africa. It is a land filled with beauty.
When you arrive in Zambia you are greeted with smiling and friendly people right at your entry point. Zambia’s people are so friendly.
The country has many cultures with many different ethnic groups speaking different languages countrywide. Many of these regional groups have amazing traditional ceremonies that attract hundred of thousands of visitors.
If you are planning on coming to the FIFA World Cup make sure you visit the Lwiindi-Gonde Ceremony of the Tokaleya people in Southern Province around that time.
Can you imagine the support we could drum up if the government was on top of the game? We could have restarted our national airline and really branded ourselves during this period.
I have not seen a single advert or program in our media regarding the 2010 World Cup. Maybe they have placed some in Europe, North America, Asia, or South Africa.
In any case, the Zambian government needs to step up in the remaining three months before the kick off. As a country we are hungry of money and we can use the revenue from the tourists.
While Rupiah is still in China he better should get those Chinese to come to Zambia to spend some bucks. And while he is still in the region he should stop by in Europe so that we can have the Europeans come in numbers as well.
Rupiah and his buddies still have time to redeem themselves. Let us all stand up tall for mother Zambia.
What do you expect from Zambia?
Agree with no.1 – if the presido himself is too busy learning how to be a tourist how can he guide others to attract tourist. No vision, No foresight No progress, No nothing = MMD. But we have known this so why publish this article? Just to rile us?
Only circus pa Zed.Since 2007 ther have been good reports from our leaders to build stadia so that european teams can camp here and climatize themselves.Today which Minister can point to any stadia?nil this is a problem of politicking every time.Instead of working you are busy flying in and out of the your own country.Also power black out are still being experienced.Sure do you expect a musungu to camp here [-(
There is too much politics in zambia. Even doing business is kind of difficult, but you cant develop a nation like that if you politicise everything.
What is Zambia doing?:-?Hmmm…most likely still celebrating Bwezani’s election in 2008 as President:-w
Wont be surprised if James, Andrew and Nenani have set up a tour operator in RSA that will bring tourists for tours of State House (LT – am i allowed to start that rumour? :-\”)
Mr Wesley Ngwenya, of the Negative Brigade, Zambia is quite some distance from South Africa for teams to camp here. You may as well ask what Tanzania or Angola are doing. As for ordinary tourists, you will be glad to know that there will be a Tourism Expo in Zamba towards the end of March to which South African operators have been invited. May be that is why the Managing Director of the Tourism Board was too busy to talk to you, plus the fact that you are a well known Negative Brigade member. God Bless.
I am busy touring the world. Excuse me. Naligomauka.
So why did Nanugala win the tourist award? Was it to encourage Zambia do do something worthwile about tourism and SA 2010? No roper hotels. No roads. dirty cities. No proper hospitals. todays tourist want to go to places which have world class facilities plus good hospitals should they get sick. In Zed politicians do rush to SA for medical help. That is where tourists will go. good article though more should have been mentioned
Poor management of the country. This was a golden opportunity for Zambia. The World Cup may not pass this way again. Once again, we’ve been caught napping.
Why is Africa poor, well here is your answer.
As usual the government is either asleep at the switch (and in parliament) or wasting precious resources fending off criticism. Every province in this country has major tourism attractions. For example, the Western province has some of the largest pot holes on earth. There are nude beaches in Luapula (scantily dressed locals). Superior local Gins (lutuku, solopi, gangata) can be found in Northern and Southern provinces. The list is endless.
Mr Wesley Ngwenya, your article is very interesting. Remember that in Zambia we never plan ahead, if we did we would not have a recurrence of flooding year in and year out for decades. Those in power are only interested in planning how to make the next kill for their wallets.
#9, to say Zambia has no prper hotels, shows that you must living on another planet. Please jump on the next rocket and come down to earth to see the number of hotels and lodges in Lusaka, Livingstone, Solwezi, Kasama…. If you want Zambia to have a University that was built in 1250 like Oxford University, then I am sorry we can’t show you one. I am sure you do have brains to understand why I picked the example of Oxford. By the way pick up the news on Greece and Iceland.
For Gods sake, the World Cup is 1,600 Km away from Zambia! There is not much we can do that RSA has not already done. Now we are asking for too much when we should be dealing with floods and poverty. Lets get real please!
Actually, before we jump on the usual bash Zambia bandwagon, there have beenreports that overall the number of people who will be travelling to SA is not as high as had previously been anticipated. This is partly due to the negative publicity that has been foistered on SA by the global media. It is therefore disheartening to come and read negative blogs by the same people who should be selling our country. If you think things are bad now, just see how many tourists will be coming to Zambia if you elect your mad cobra big mouth.
because Zambians are generally not innovative nothing will be done to attract tourists.Just look at comments on this blog.people saying SA is far, pepole talking about tuma expos that no-one knows about etc.no wonder its south africans that sell victoria falls like its in gauteng! we can’t even attract a fly to zambia what more a tourist with dollars top spend.Didn’t the late Mwanawasa talk of exploiting the world cup for Zambias advaantage? Zambia is centrally located.if our airport could live up to its name- international airport it would have been used as a place for connecting flights etc
No sane team can camp in Zambia. And no sane Tourist can come and watch footbal on the so called big screen in Zambia.
Nothing bululu just politicking and talking on the :)]:)]:)]:)]:)]:)]:)]:)]:)]:)]::
You are hereby invited to attend a meeting at the Zambia High Commission on Friday, 12 March 2010 starting from 1800 – 2030. The meeting is to enlighten fellow Zambians here in the UK about the Citizen Economic Empowerment Commission (CEEC) which has been created by the Government of Zambia to enable it provide funds for Zambians to run businesses. The Chief Executive of CEEC, Ms Mable Mung’omba will lead the discussions.
#19,hmm! sounds interesting. Hope she is not going to tell us about MMD! But will there be any food after the discussions? if so, then will definitely show my pretty face!;))
I am not sure about the food though Katalina check it out with Mr Mumba on 02075896655.
^:)^
they’ll be busy praying for a miracle to help save them from poverty [-o< and beg for handouts from the few tourist who will accidentally stumble into the real africa!
#21,thanx, nomba akaso abantu aba! awe mwandi!
katalina
Ukutemwa mushetology, DJ is talking about serious stuff you’re already salivating for nothing.
Even you gave Zambia Hundred years and all the tools,they would come up zilch..imagine South Africa expects in excess of a million visitors,these are high spenders,the region is relatively safe why in the devil’s name have we let this once in a lifetime thing pass us by?we could have been riding the wave for years to come in terms of vast game parks,south Africa is swamped and the neighbours are running around like headless chickens..but what do you expect you wanted a white-man to tell you what to do,idle Zambians!!!!!!!!1
Recycled politician change to your nom to “retard”.Have you any idea why South Africa won the bid?do you know how much a ticket costs?do you know the kind of teams play in this tournament?Zambians we can’t fathom the implications of this event never!!!our leaders don’t have the capacity to understand the rewards.what they see is in simple terms like people dancing at the airport,mudslinging stupid little men.Our hotels are not even world class,out transport system is pathetic,we have two flights to South Africa two!!! when countries have over a hundred..never again is an event like ever coming to Africa again!!!!!!!
The writer of this article seems to forget that he is African and Zambian in particular. There’s nothing wrong with the African mind, our problem is the African mindset!