10 days Zambia safari 360 highlights tour in South Luangwa national Park.(ImgSrc:zambian-tourists-top Tourist)

Zambia is a country that is located in the SADC region (Southern African Development Community). It has the natural resources and other tourism assets needed to attract a significantly larger number of tourists. The country is home to the iconic Victoria Falls and also has some world-class national parks and other wildlife-related attractions, including 19 National Parks and 34 Game Management Areas covering over 22.4 million hectares. These attractions are well received by tourists.

Zambia also has numerous natural cultural and heritage assets away from these core areas for example:

• Lakes in northern Zambia for beach and water activities
• Wetlands in northern Zambia for birdlife and
• Various cultural ceremonies across the country.

Tourism contributes to the economy in terms of foreign exchange earnings balance of payments and generates tax revenues for the treasury.

COVID-19 is a real threat to Zambia’s tourism sector and there is a high risk that many firms will shut down and disappear.

Zambia’s travel and tourism industry, which has shown signs of healthy growth in recent years, was impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a 2020 report by the International Growth Centre (IGC) in 2019, the contribution of travel and tourism to GDP (% of GDP) for Zambia was 7.3 % (USD 1,701 million), 7.2% of total employment (469 thousand jobs) and International visitors spent USD 849 million, representing 10% of Zambia’s total exports.

The contribution of travel and tourism to Zambia's GDP (% of GDP) tended to increase through the 2000 - 2019 period but ended at 7.3 % in 2019. This was prior to the advent of COVID-19.

During the onset of the pandemic Covid-19 in March-2020, Zambia did not close its borders, but took some measures which have been taken to avoid crowds and banning unnecessary travelling around the world.

Covid-19 caused the rapid decline of visitors in Zambia, where in the first three months of 2020;

• The tourism dropped over 14000 international visitors and
• 165 tourism businesses in Livingstone faced bankruptcy.

The travel agency like Safari insurance brokerage and car rental services as the company which has been affected also has developed the online platform to effectively distribute travel products during this covid-19 period.

Tourism businesses in Zambia need to have more different licenses which is not easy to get. Some of those licenses are needed from both the local council and a central government agency for just the same activity. But if they could be minimized, this could develop tourism as it is one of heavy regulations in Zambia's tourism sector, which even led Zambia  to be ranked as 113th out of 140 countries in TTCI (Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index) in 2019.

According to the Times of Zambia United Kingdom (UK) government has brought the latest support of a noble share of 15 million pounds which is about 466.6 million of Kwacha to support "Kavango–Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area"(KAZA) landscape which improved the tourism industry performance in the 10 provinces of the country.

Zambia  is collaborating with its neighboring countries, to ensure that  borders are open, but keep the restrictions of all visitors to have proof that they tested negative for covid-19 in the 72 hours before their arrival. This will help Zambia to continue its target of becoming a leading tourist destination in the southern Africa region and creating many jobs that will help in contributing to Zambia's economic growth and poverty reduction.

Even though covid-19 turned down the tourism sector in Zambia,  there are three main ways that Zambia should apply to increase the revenue from tourists to turn it up;

• Increase the number of tourists
• Increase the length of time tourists stay in the country
• Increase the amount of money tourists spend during their stay.

By achieving some or all of the following results, Zambia’s tourism industry could come closer to reaching its potential, through increased investment (both domestic and foreign), visitor numbers and expenditure. This could provide more jobs and contribute to increased prosperity.