Geographic Description

Malawi is a landlocked country in southwest Africa bordered to the northwest by Zambia, to the northeast by Tanzania, and the east, south and west by Mozambique. Lake Malawi forms much of its eastern border and separates the country from Tanzania and Mozambique.

Tourism Policy Environment

Significantly, Malawi lacks a national tourism policy.  Tourism development policy only exists within the context of other policy documents (e.g. Environmental Policy, the Millennium Development Goals, Poverty Reduction Strategy, etc.). These documents are discussed below, insofar as they address tourism development.

Malawi’s Environmental Policy seeks to sustainably manage and conserve tourist attractions and to involve local communities in eco-tourism through management and revenue sharing.

Malawi’s Millennium Development Goals briefly mentions tourism as a means of reducing poverty in Malawi, but does not go into detail.

Malawi’s Poverty Reduction Strategy supports pro-poor tourism development as a means of involving the poor in tourism, distributing income and generating employment, particularly for in rural areas.

“In order to facilitate poverty reduction through tourism, the MPRS will promote development and investment in diverse tourism products, develop and adopt updated and professional approaches to tourism and marketing, and establish an appropriate regulatory framework to improve the standards and quality of tourism product. These interventions will be implemented in partnership with the private sector on the basis of the Tourism Strategic Plan” (Government of Malawi, 2002: 35-36).

The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy recognises tourism as a high growth sector and seeks to establish Malawi as a “principal and leading eco-tourism destination in Africa” (IMF, 2007) by increasing tourism capacity, increasing attractiveness of national parks and improving tourism marketing regionally and internationally.

Malawi’s Ministry of Information and Tourism has goals of developing and promoting tourism in a sustainable way – including economic and environmental sustainability.

Certification / Award Programmes

NA

TFCAs

Malawi is involved in one TFCA – the Malawi-Zambia TFCA, which is a combination of the Nyika and Kasungu/Lukusuzi TFCAs.