By MAIMBOLWA MULIKELELA –
THE Livingstone Tourism Association (LTA) has urged the Government to competitively tax the tourism sector and consider removing unnecessary barriers to reduce the cost and hassle of travelling to Zambia.
LTA chairperson Active Monze said to develop Zambia’s tourism, there was need to competitively tax the sector relatively to its immediate competitors such as Zimbabwe and Namibia.
In an interview in Lusaka, Mr Monze said it was important for the Government to zero rate Value Added Tax (VAT), currently at 16 per cent for the industry to realise its full potential.
Mr Monze said the removal of unnecessary barriers such as the VISA facilitation and the classification of Zambia as a yellow fever area was some of the concerns hindering growth of the tourism sector.
He said streamlining the VISA regime would help reduce the cost of tourism saying that promoting key tourism investment projects, especially attracting key international brand into Zambia was very cardinal to the growth of the industry.
“We need to remove the barriers to entry as such as VISA facilitation, bad conditions of borders like Kazungula border post and the 16 per cent value added tax which are some of the issues disadvantaging us from competing with our friends in the region,” he said.
Mr Monze said: “We are already an expensive destination hence the need for Government to consider zero rating VAT in order for us to be at least competitive.”
He said despite the challenges, the sector this year performed better than last year, adding that, the tourism sector was beefed up by the successful hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
“The UNWTO was successfully hosted and left our town clean and neat and I am sure the after effects of the conference will soon be seen in the number of arrivals in going forward,” Mr Monze said.
The international event was one of the most successful in the history of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, with approximately 4,000 delegates.
Further, it significantly raised Zambia’s international profile as a world class tourism destination.
