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Tourism Industry
OVERVIEW
Zambia’s tourism sector has been growing for the
past five years. Generally characterized by a large
number of unspoiled and pristine wilderness areas,
Zambia really is the “Real Africa”. Clean, green
and unspoiled, it epitomizes the best of Africa’s last
remaining untouched natural area. Investment into
tourism has grown gradually over the years. Most
investment has been directed towards tourism ac-
commodation with a noticeable increase in accom-
modation increasing the number of rooms from
approximately 500,000 in 2005 to 94,000 in 2009.
This has been followed by investment into wildlife
tourism and newer subsectors such as hosting con-
ferences, heritage and safari hunting operations
Zambia is receiving a greater share of tourism’s
contribution to economic development which has
been growing as shown by the increased foreign
exchange earnings, local incomes, infrastructure
development and the increase in local tourism en-
trepreneurship and ownership encouraged by gov-
ernment through the Tourism Development Credit
Facility (TDCF) followed by the Citizens Economic
Empowerment Commission (CEEC).
Zambia’s emphasis on tourism development has
been witnessed by government expenditures in
terms of infrastructure particularly in the develop-
ment of roads, airports and other support infrastruc-
ture including telecommunication facilities as well as
access roads in national parks and game manage-
ment areas. Zambia has continued to prioritize tour-
ism as the second largest contributor to the Zambian
economy after agriculture. Tourism has acted as a
catalyst for economic development throughout the
country, especially in rural areas where most of the
tourism attractions are located.
Zambia has hosted the Southern African Develop-
ment Community (SADC) Conference of Ministers of
Tourism in June 2011. This was accomplished due
to Zambia’s political stability and its depth and vari-
ety of available tourism opportunities. The Zambian
tourism sector is being reorganized and rational-
ized with the changes in the regulatory framework
through the review of the Tourism and Hospitality Act
enacted by parliament in 2007. In order to anchor
the legislation and provide a solid policy framework,
the Zambia Wildlife Act of 1998, as well as the Na-
tional Heritage Conservation Commission Act are
In Zambia you will enjoy different types of traffic jam