By Lusakatimes
Curio-Makers and sellers in Livingstone have said there is a decrease in the number of local and foreign tourists visiting the Mukuni Park as a result of the country’s failure to reduce the cost of tourism.
Mukuni Park Curio Market Association Vice Chairperson,Clement Ndhlovu said most tourists who come to Zambia prefer to proceed to Zimbabwe for accommodation and tour reservations.
Mr.Ndhlovu said Zimbabwe has lower accommodation and visa rates as compared to Zambia.
Speaking in an interview Mr Ndhlovu asked the Government to reduce the cost of to tourism in Zambia.
Meanwhile Mr.Ndhlovu described 2010 as a difficult year for the Curio business.
He said despite much expectation that the tourism sector would boom in 2010 owing to the 2010 World CUP, Zambia never reaped the benefits of the prestigious soccer tournament.
And a survey by Musi-o-Tunya Radio revealed that tour operators are charging exorbitant fees which have proved to be too expensive for both local and foreign tourists for tour activities.
Most of the locals find it unreasonable to pay a minimum of about US$50 for a Boat Cruise.
The Survey further disclosed that a person is expected to pay about US$140 which is about K700,000 for a boat cruise at the Zambezi Boat
Club.
Mmmmmm Bakamba 140$ a boat cruise, yashani? Mwamona nomba. MARUBISH.
It is the white tour operators scamming Zambia. They want the tourists to go back to Zim were most of these operators still have a business going. They want to reap 200% profit after GRZ taxes them.
ill researched article as usual from LT. How much are visa fees in Zim for example?
I hear Dollar $iliya besides selling Zamtel, schools, is also looking for customers to buy Victoria Falls
its true..its too expensive unlike on the Zimbabwean side..we enjoyed alot there ..why should we b paying so much as if we ain’t Zambians..?
The Government should take this as an URGENT matter. Zimbo is picking up the pieces and will surpass Zed. We can talk but is it going to change???
There is no way I would pay $140 for a boat cruise. In Zed people just wakeup and dream of a $$ amount for anything….good luck guys…
# 02 KC, I think you should read the story again, it says Livingstone is too expensive for tourist, the quoted Man actually is being subtle its Zambia as a tourist destination is too expensive. Go to Botswana, Namibia, RSA, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania & Zimbabwe then compare the prices of essentials for tourists .i.e. Fuel, Visa Fees, etc etc then you will understand why Victoria Falls Town in Zimbabwe has more tourists than Livingstone.
Our Phd student have been presenting their papers on the issue of Livingstone being an expensive place for years but their views have fallen on deaf ears. GRZ is to blame. Instead of marching the prices in Vic Falls town, our tour operators & GRZ would like to win over night by charging high fees from accommodation to food and visas etc. Zambians in Livingstone, rise up and march at the GRZ offices & force change.
wow thats expensive for sure, no way anybody can pay $140 just for a boat cruise? give me a break. GRZ do something to control things there before people become jobless in tourism sector.
The thing is that we do not want to be rubbing shoulders with the common man, tell me where are we going to relax from if we open Livingstone to the common man? :d:d:o:o:)>-
The truth of the matter is that it is very expensive to run business in Zambia. Tour operators are small business enterprises. What you have is small businesses being over-taxed, while mining companies are getting away without paying enough tax. The price of copper is very high on the market, and yet we are not charging mines windfall tax. However, the moment copper price falls below a certain level you will see the companies closing their mines saying the price is not enough. That is why windfall tax was being charged. There is nothing like paying tax in the future. When? Are you sure the copper will still be there, iwe chifita!! Tax the mines to relieve tourism charges, then you will see tourists coming. At the moment tour operators have to charge those prices – we are f.u.c.k.e.d!!
not only Livingstone but Zambia is too expensive for tourists and visiting diasporians and friends.., been to many countries in africa and around the globe on vacation but zambia is the most expensive of all especially accomodation prices which is ridiculously expensive, a package trip to Miami for instance inclucive 4-5 star hotel is 10 times cheaper than a holiday trip to cholera and malaria infested Zed. Kenya has attractive offers (flight, accomodation, food, tours, activities) its hard not to go there every now and then. hopefully things will get back to normal in good old Zim they sure know what moneys worth than in Zed, Zedians think if you are coming from abroad you’ll bring a sack full of dollars you picked up on the streets to throw around at them!
I do not know what kind of economics prevails in Zambia-how can Zimbabwe with all its numerous economic and political problems encountered in the recent past be a cheaper place for tourist than Zambia? Its very dissapointing and mind boggling indeed!!
Its not the first time I have commented on Tourism in Zambia. We have the seven wonders of the world and yet we have failed to market it. The minister of Tourism is ever attending meetings abroad, what do they do at these meetings, shopping? In the United Kingdom I have never seen an advert on Victoria Fallas, and yet we see adverts from Kenya, Angola, Botswana and even Zimbabwe? When you visit the High Commission in London, the Zambian Flag outside the embassy was torn. I recommended friends to visit victoria falls, they complained that tourism in Zambia in expensive. The minister of tourism should resign?
Its not the first time I have commented on Tourism in Zambia. We have the seven wonders of the world and yet we have failed to market it. The minister of Tourism is ever attending meetings abroad, what do they do at these meetings, shopping? In the United Kingdom I have never seen an advert on Victoria Falls, and yet we see adverts from Kenya, Angola, Botswana and even Zimbabwe? When you visit the High Commission in London, the Zambian Flag outside the embassy was torn. I recommended friends to visit victoria falls, they complained that tourism in Zambia in expensive. The minister of tourism should resign?
2010 was generally a difficult year for most businesses and tourism has been among the worst hit world over during this global economic melt down. I would suggest the rates for the foreigners are kept at the same level but the Zambians’ ones reduced. This will boost tourism in our land. The other thing to note is until recently Zim had been charging in Zim dollars for goods and services. And so when the prices were increasing during those hyper inflation days the costs in other currencies like USD when converted was getting lower. So when Zim was allowed to charge in USD they were at an advantage. I remember benefiting on clothes purchases I made in Zim as a result of those Zim dollar weakening and hyper inflation days.
Instead of reducing the cost of tourism why don’t you/tourist board/ministry of tourism increase the level of advertising that is done or not done in this case? I don’t seem to remember seeing any advert that says visit Zambia or Livingstone here in the UK, US or Europe. Can somebody tell me what Zambian high commissioner to the UK or US do? It’s certainly not promoting Zambia or seeking investment! Apparently RB does this on his numerous trips, so what is the job of the high commissioner?
Number 9, I like your humour. Any hope for a PHD place at your university? I would like to be part of the research team.
This is a good one it can be used very well by Mr Sata/POST. They can now start calling for govt to reduce Visa fees, once/if the Visa fees are reduced they can then start complaining that Tourists are paying next to nothing and govt is loosing out on revenue. Good circular argument, i hope they have already identified it.
It is just as good as the mine tax one.
#18 I should admit a Zambian website on google geared mainly for Victoria falls could be useful. Plus articulate info on flight details, hotels, transport through Zambia. However, the root cause which puts off Zambians and tourists is the extremely expensive accomodation. There is no sensitivity to the recession in the pricing. People no longer spend $500 a night in hotels… In addition, they lose the people with basic incomes like teachers etc by not catering classy accomodation for them. The fact that the Ministry of Tourism have a competitor nextdoor Zimbabwe why can’t they copy what they are doing. Zimbabwe has lower expenses and cleaner surroundings than L/stone… its like Zed does’nt care. Plus there are no cheap fast foods like KFC or Mcdonalds’s liked by tourists.
my sister and I will be going to malawi just to save some $$.accommodation and transport is really cheap there.
Zambia in general is too expensive and yet services are so poor.
And to make matters worse the Govt has revoked the zero-rating of VAT in that area meaning tourist packages will be standard rated the out come 16% more expensive.
Regardless of Zim problems we are by far behind.Zambia failed to capitalize
That is very true. A helicopter ride $250 per person. Tourist facilities are not meant for locals in Zambia. I have a number of times had dinner at sun hotel and have never met a black person. May be i go on wrong days but from my observation the place is for white economically powerful people. Otherwise you might bump into thandiwe banda from time to time, a school teacher by profession alas!
i like the comment which says things are too expensive in zambia because big companies like the mines are not being taxed heavly while small companies which promote job creation and improvement in the standard of living for people are taxed heavely making the standard of living expensive.
its not only tourism.. fuel prices, transportation etc are also expensive..how many tour operators complain about high fuel prices in zambia..its sad a lot of adjustments in taxes need to be made so that the cost of doing business is reduced..zambia has beautiful places which tourist can visit better that other countries but the taxes makes the country expensive and receiving less tourist as compared to other countries.
its not the issue of visa but accomondation,in zimbabwe hostel are controlled by the govt.like at victoria falls town there is elephat,kingdom and falls hotel which are run by the govt.if visa was very expensive in zambia why tourist are using livingstone airport in transit to zimbabwe?
Rubbish story.
What kills the tourist money in Livingstone is HOTELS.
Second to that is dining costs.
The cruise at $50 is very reasonable considering they supply all the drinks you can swallow in 3 hours plus a hot grill of food.
Try getting all that in a western city and it would cost $150 per person.
I traveled on the African Queen and it was great.
I would do it again as it is worth it.
YES.
The locals can’t afford it but this is not a tourist issue.
That is a government pay rate issue.
Entry fee for the falls were at my wife the local 15000kw and for me the foreigner i paid 30,000kw.
All over Zambia i seen that tourists pay more for entry fees to tourism places of interest.
#19, Thank you sir. Meant our students. We have few remaining research places because our uni attracts researchers from all over the globe who are trying to understand why Lusaka is so dirty in most places, why Livingstone is the most expensive tourist destination in Southern Africa and why Lusaka airport is still underdeveloped after 46 yrs of independence , etc.
Number 29, count me in! Thanks for the offer. I will change my name to matero PHD student!
so No 27 are you suggesting that Gov should be running accommodation in livingstone.
Amazing things here. I am very happy to see your post. Thank you so much and I’m having a look ahead to touch you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail?
I visited the statue of liberty in New York City in 1993. To get on a cruise to the island we paid $4. I am not sure how much they are paying now but $140 is ridiculous. Also, Sun Hotel is killing business and visitors. No hotel here charges those ridiculous fees.