Is Malawi prepared for South Africa 2010 ?

Black Panther · Senior Member

Is Malawi prepared for South Africa 2010 ?

awmygawd · Guru

Black Panther wrote:

Is Malawi Prepared ?

Far from it. Sorry to say this, but that level of foresight simply doesn't exist in Malawian business, especially in the tourism industry; its lack of initiative is unforgivable.

skillzmanifest · Senior Member

.....and what money does one have stashed away for such infrastructure?

awmygawd · Guru

skillzmanifest wrote:

.....and what money does one have stashed away for such infrastructure?

The preparations don't have to be infrastructural in nature. Even a simple marketing excercise designed with the 2010 world cup (and beyond) in mind would go a long way. All the tourism industry have to do is gang up and hire a good marketing firm to present Malawi as (say) Africa's 'Eden'. A really talented bunch of marketers could even make South Africa's relative development seem unattractive in the light Malawi's 'natural feel'. There are loads of countries out there with robust tourism sectors in spite of their poor infrastructure. It's all about presentation. What Malawi's problem??

-- Edited by awmygawd at 03:05, 2006-07-15

Pope · Guru

awmygawd wrote:

Even a simple marketing excercise designed with the 2010 world cup (and beyond) in mind would go a long way. All the tourism industry have to do is gang up and hire a good marketing firm to present Malawi as (say) Africa's 'Eden'. A really talented bunch of marketers could even make South Africa's relative development seem unattractive in the light Malawi's 'natural feel'.

What a point!

But do you see any thinking of this line in the next twenty years?

skillzmanifest · Senior Member

When I asked that question, I had a feeling that would be brought up, as those were also my initial thoughts while exploring the idea of malawi preparing for a 2010 world cup. Indeed, with the state of today's marketing (quintessentially observed from the west), the most seemingly obscurest of ideas are sold with pitch slogans and tantalizing phrasing that serve to catch the consumer. I thought of Malawi being of the same appeal as you mentioned it. Better still, it woud be sold as the warm heart of africa. However, I think the southern african tourism sectors give too much emphasis on the allure of this eden-like serenity experienced in Africas depths, eg botswana, Mozaambique, south africa .

This is the time, more than any other, for Malawi tourism to feature something about Malawi that is uniquely Malawian. I am think more along the lines of how something would be marketed as it relates to the fifa games. Perhaps Malawi is concentrating on an improved national team that would be hyped up to show promise of taking the trophy back home. Or dressing its women and marketing our prostitutes(obscure as it would seem). Whatever the country decides to do, it would be too soon to tell. Unless its infrestructural, requiring the duration of time it would take for the games to start. Which is why i'd also side with you in encouraging malawianas to think ahead.

-- Edited by skillzmanifest at 00:39, 2006-07-16

Dzimveremuntolo · Newbie

All the tourism industry have to do is gang up and hire a good marketing firm to present Malawi as (say) Africa's 'Eden'. A really talented bunch of marketers could even make South Africa's relative development seem unattractive in the light Malawi's 'natural feel'. There are loads of countries out there with robust tourism sectors in spite of their poor infrastructure. It's all about presentation. What Malawi's problem??-- Edited by awmygawd at 03:05, 2006-07-15

A very interesting observation indeed.

I posed the 2010 question to one of my friends in the hotel industry in MW and surprisingly no ball has been set rolling despite him being one of the decision-makers. To these guys, the world cup will be happening in South africa. It's funny that SA is only two and half hours away by plane.

What we are lacking in MW is creativity and well-trained marketers.

The world cup can offer us a chance to reposition our country as a tourist destination and we can take advantage of the 2010 world cup to kick start ventures that will sell mw's uniqueness. Ofcourse the biggest challenge would to determine and segment these would-be customers to enable our local business guys tailor the kind of goods and services that can be sold. For the purpose of this forum, those who have done marketing would appreciate that this requires intensive market research as a starting point. We also have to look around and start picking those unique and sellable things about Mw. It's not gonna be a cheap exercise but the returns are obvious.

This sounds daunting but our country needs to wake up from deep slumber and start to do some real work, otherwise the 2010 cake will pass through our noses.

Black Panther · Senior Member

Marketing is key... the only thing is that we need to get our wheels og govt to run together for marketing to be essential..... Malawi has a site in Karonga where the Malawisauraus has been found.. I Dinosaur unique to Malawi - why not market that better ? A lot of Malawians are unaware of the anthropological and acrcheological advances in Malawi - Market them..there is a cultural center in place already..why not revamp it or extend it..the people there have been trying to get funds .... We also need to promote our dominant or less then dominant ethnic groups that do unique things or have a unique history..the Ngonis wouls be easy b/c they are dedendants of Shaka and the world knows Shakas legacy.. we have other groups that we can market.. but we need to have the ministry of tourism working with the minisitry of culture etc.... one govt wheel cant work alone... apparentlythe tourisim minister has been doing real well in trying to prep... they have a website up where they talk briefly about this....ill see if I can find it.... What we need to realise is that we will always be starving for right now, we need to spend money though in order to get it and to break away from this cycle.... get Malawis name out there....it is the job of the embassies to do this but if there is no direction, they also really wont do anything.... World Cup is in SA yes, but those tourists can make a stop.

awmygawd · Guru

Pope wrote:

Do you see any thinking of this line in the next twenty years?

Enterprise has a way of popping up when you least expect it. All it takes is for someone to realise, and more importantly, decide to do something about the fact that there is a better way. Business problems are only as big as how you approach them.

awmygawd · Guru

Black Panther wrote:

Marketing is key... the only thing is that we need to get our wheels og govt to run together for marketing to be essential..... Malawi has a site in Karonga where the Malawisauraus has been found.. I Dinosaur unique to Malawi - why not market that better ? A lot of Malawians are unaware of the anthropological and acrcheological advances in Malawi - Market them..there is a cultural center in place already..why not revamp it or extend it..the people there have been trying to get funds .... We also need to promote our dominant or less then dominant ethnic groups that do unique things or have a unique history..the Ngonis wouls be easy b/c they are dedendants of Shaka and the world knows Shakas legacy.. we have other groups that we can market.. but we need to have the ministry of tourism working with the minisitry of culture etc.... one govt wheel cant work alone... apparentlythe tourisim minister has been doing real well in trying to prep... they have a website up where they talk briefly about this....ill see if I can find it.... What we need to realise is that we will always be starving for right now, we need to spend money though in order to get it and to break away from this cycle.... get Malawis name out there....it is the job of the embassies to do this but if there is no direction, they also really wont do anything.... World Cup is in SA yes, but those tourists can make a stop.

You're right about how much Malawi has to offer. I was fortunate enough to Visit both Durban and Cape Maclear in the space of a few days; Durban has NOTHING on Cape Maclear, trust me! Imagine what else could be out there…

I'm not sure about the role of government though. Given Malawi's circumstances, I'd say the onus to market Malawi as a tourist destination lies very much on Malawi's tourism industry. I'm not saying that government has no role to play; I just believe the private sector is better equipped to improve Malawi's international visibility. There is so much that can be achieved without government intervention, although the active involvement of government would make the process much easier. The important first step is for industry players to acknowledge their shared interests.

Pope · Guru

awmygawd wrote:

All it takes is for someone to realise, and more importantly, decide to do something about the fact that there is a better way. Business problems are only as big as how you approach them.

I thought its the rate of investment and economic growth and coupled with political stability.I think there are no big problems in business that can stop business if economic growth is healthy.

-- Edited by Pope at 10:09, 2006-07-18

awmygawd · Guru

The state of the domestic economy doesn't matter as much in international tourism. Political stability IS crucial & MW has that, by & large. At the industry level, attracting investment is no problem where it can be shown that viable business opportunities exist; That's the single factor out of the 3 you mention that is highly relevant and can be controlled by the industry. It's up to them really.

Pope · Guru

Thanks awmy,

sometimes I feel sad for our nation,we dont have serious investors in tourism compared to Kenya,Tanzania.The goverment has tried for the past few years but the number of tourists still dwindles.We need even local investors to play a role.The other year I went Tanzania,their border had no power or good office blocks while malawi had good houses and office blocks without electricity.But two years ago the tanzanian border got everything ranging from good houses and electricity while the malawi side cant afford power upto today.The lakeshore has no power or escom is demanding sooo much from the investor.