With natural resources accounting for 40% of Zambia’s national wealth, the government of this East African country wants to diversify its economy to better cope with external shocks. As part of this policy, Lusaka has just secured a $100 million loan from the World Bank. The funding will support the development of sustainable, “resilient and transformational” tourism.
Zambia has enormous potential for the development of sustainable tourism. The country is home, for example, to the Liuwa Plains National Park. Located in Western Province, this area covers more than 3,300 km2 and is managed by the conservation organisation African Parks. An aerial census carried out in 2020 revealed a steady increase in the park’s main ungulate species: 31,956 wildebeest, 4,160 plains zebra and 2,200 red Lechwe cob.
Under-exploited tourism potential
According to African Parks, this plain is the site of the second largest wildebeest migration on the continent (after the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania), and is a stronghold for hyenas, cheetahs and lions, as well as being an important ornithological area. Such wealth could attract many tourists. This is why the Zambian government will be using World Bank funding to improve access routes to its biodiversity reserves.
Read also- ZAMBIA: African Parks wins delegated management of Kafue National Park
The loan will also be used to develop ecotourism around the source of the Zambezi River in north-west Zambia, or Kasaba Bay on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the north of the country. According to the World Bank, the main beneficiaries of the “green, resilient and transformational tourism” development project are local communities, nature-based community enterprises and private sector entities.
According to him, “women-led entities will be supported through business advisory services, including access to finance, in order to benefit equitably from the project”. It also aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of participating ministries through various capacity-building activities and programmes.
Jean Marie Takouleu