Despite government and private sector efforts to grow the sector, there are a number of challenges that the sector is currently facing. The following are some of the key challenge and possible solutions.

• Climate change and adverse weather impacts including cyclones and floods has affected the sector massively. Recently the rising water levels in Lake Malawi has disrupted activities of most hotels along Lake Malawi leading to closure of notable hotels.
  • In recognition of the country’s vulnerability to adverse effects of climate change, the government of Malawi and the private sector should take important steps to address climate change issues as outlined in the National Climate Change National Climate Change Management Policy of 2016. 
• The current economic environment of higher macroeconomic imbalance evidenced by rising fuel and food costs has not only affected the operational costs for businesses in the sector but also reduced demand for accommodation services. Higher inflation has eroded the buying power of consumer income thereby reducing the amount of income allocated towards domestic tourism. This problem has affected domestic tourism which was already low due to a general misconception held by Malawians that tourism is for foreigners.
  • To solve this problem there is a need for continued effort to achieve macroeconomic stability.
• Under-developed product: Malawi’s diversity of natural, cultural and man-made attractions are generally underdeveloped. These include sites and events linked to cultural, colonial and religious heritage. They also include the lakeshore, mountains and protected areas. Further, the wildlife population is also low due to poaching, encroachment, inadequate funding for wildlife conservation and enforcement and environmental degradation of areas with outstanding natural 3 beauty. Finally, most tourist structures/facilities/services are of sub-standard quality affecting negatively on the destination image.
  • There is a need to promote ecotourism that will help people around the tourist centers to benefit from the tourism activities and incentivize them to be custodians of tourism resources.
  • Imposition and implementation of strong rules to protect wildlife and heritage centers.
  • Promotion of civic education on the importance of tourism to the economy.
  • Increasing funding toward environmental conservation.
• Limited tourism mainstreaming across all sectors: Tourism issues have not been integrated at all planning levels across sectors leading to conflicting policies being implemented. The situation has been exacerbated by the lack of an effective cross-sectoral public-public and public-private dialogue platforms.
  • Tourism planning and development should be implanted at all levels of government including local government.
  • The government should work to implement the all the identified aspects in the masterplan
• Limited destination marketing in selected markets: There is low visibility of Malawi’s tourism products in source markets due to inadequate resources for destination marketing. Malawians also lack awareness of local attractions and available product offers.
  • The introduction of the Malawi International Tourism Expo (Takulandilani) is a step in the right direction and there is a need to boost our visibility through this event and many other platforms.
  • Businesses in the sector should also invest in marketing to improve their visibility to attract both domestic and foreign customers.
• Low service quality: This is due to limited supply of skilled labour, lack of high quality training institutions and outdated curriculum, low literacy levels, limited number of specialist investors and unattractive conditions of service leading to unmotivated labour force. Low quality of services adversely affects the competitiveness of the destination.
  • Government and private sector should work together to boost human capacity investment. This can be done by introducing more tourism colleges and related programs in the already existing private and public universities.
  • Tourism subjects should also be extended to grassroots levels of education including secondary and primary school.
• Inadequate supporting infrastructure and services: Some roads are below internationally acceptable standards. Air and railway transport is costly and limited. There is also a lack of vessels and port infrastructure to support water transport. Gaps in service delivery in other sectors such as health, ICT and financial sectors also affect tourism growth.
  • There is more to be done in the infrastructure sector to help boost tourism. Despite the government establishing a number of incentives including the removal of importation tax on building materials in the sector the private sector is failing to utilize such opportunities due to a number of factors including unavailability and costly finance. Government and the private sector should therefore introduce a tourism fund to help finance tourism projects.
  • Given high financial requirement, businesses should engage in collaboration to achieve big project.
  • Incentives should also be made to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the sector.
• Limited and costly accessibility: There is a lack of seamless flights from regional hubs. Domestic air connectivity is very limited and costly. In addition, ground facilities for transfers including shuttles, taxis, luxury coaches, ships and water vessels are costly and unreliable.
  • There is a need to improve the transportation system by constructing high standard roads linking tourist centers. The air infrastructure should also be enhanced to attract more air traffic to Malawi.
  • There should also be tax incentives to promote investment in automobiles, and planes used for the tourism sector.
• Players in the medical sector have attributed the lack of proper regulatory framework as one of the factors affecting medical tourism. For example, some hospitals have the potential to attract customers from neighboring countries. However, the lack of forex is affecting their business operations since they need forex to import medical suppliers.
  • Therefore hospitals should be allowed to receive payment in foreign currency to smoothen their business operations.  
• Gaps in the tourism regulatory and institutional framework: The tourism sector is dynamic and the present law does not address the current and emerging issues. For instance, it does not provide for planning and development issues. The Ministry responsible for Tourism doubles as a policy maker and implementer. The Government undertakes operational activities such as licensing, grading and destination marketing that are generally agreed to be more appropriately housed in a semi-autonomous body responsible for regulation and promotion.
  • Separate individual bodies should be introduced to help eliminate some of the irregularities in the sector.
• Fragmented private sector: There are divisions and lack of coordination amongst private sector operators which makes it difficult for the sector to advance consensus on important issues.
  • There is a need to boost collaboration between private sector and government institutions through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), and engagement of policy and regulatory framework.