LIVINGSTONE, Thursday, November 8, 2023
Travel Consultant Chaandwa Shandele has called on support services providers in Livingstone including Banks and Insurance, Hotels and Lodges,
Forex Traders, Restaurants & Fast Foods and Mobile Service Providers to realize the need to stay on top of the travel and tourism industry trends as they will go a long way in enhancing travelers/tourist experience in Destination Zambia.
Speaking at the ongoing week-long Training of frontline staff dabbed -Livingstone Cohort 1, in Livingstone, Mr. Shandele said tourism is one of the world’s most dynamic industries with many moving pieces of the travel industry puzzle and each one of these pieces affects its expansion, growth rate and revenue.
The training is meant to ensure that quality experience is offered to tourists and visitors by the frontline staff in Zambia’s tourism capital.
He called on the participants to appreciate that all factors such as supply and demand, attractions, availability of transportation, economy, and travel tech are subject to changes at any time as seen during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Shandele said these factors make tracking and learning travel industry statistics very important and that trends in tourism change from day to day such that what might appear to be a trend today can easily become obsolete tomorrow. Therefore, there is need to leave in the moment all the time.
And Zambia Institute of Tourism Hospitality Studies (ZITHS) Governing Council Vice Chairperson Perry Siame said there is need to drive interaction with the border agencies and tourism stakeholders and develop an interactive training intervention to be piloted at our single largest tourist destination with four (4) entry points, Kazungula, Katima Mulilo, Victoria Falls and Harry Mwaanga Nkumbula Airport.
He called on the players to explore new and practical ways to capture visitor experiences and present regular updates on border and port performance to the Ministry of Tourism.
Mr. Siame called for the need to develop a platform to rank and reward all high performing borders/ports in order to continuously drive the right collective behaviors amongst all the stakeholders.
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