Individual consulting was provided to several Guest Houses and Tour Operators in Livingstone. Without understanding the limitations of their own offerings, or the market they needed to target, many small providers looked at the opening of the Sun International Resort with unrealistic expectations. Resort Tourism traditionally is designed to cater to all the needs of the guest, minimizing or eliminating the need for the guest to step outside of the amenities of the resort. Packages and promotions are booked abroad to attract large numbers of people. Adventure and Specialty Tourism, on the other hand, is more small group or individually oriented, catering specifically to people who want to experience cultures, natural habitats, and pursue activities. This group of tourists is more likely to sample, try, experiment, and ultimately more advantageous and productive for Livingstone.

In order to attract foreign tour operators, the providers need to learn to package, both in terms of expanded programs and groups discount rates. Because of the difficulty of distance and limited transportation options available in Zambia, tour operators abroad only sell packages to safari lodges located in the National Parks, which are easily accessible by air from Lusaka. The work sessions focused on packaging and the need for local providers to form alliances and pool their resources to develop such packages, combining transportation, lodging, catering and activities to destinations within a half-day journey from Livingstone. Such packages may consist of one or two nights away from Livingstone, combined with two nights or more in Livingstone, which can then be offered as extensions to packages already provided to destinations in Zimbabwe and Botswana. During the work session, lists of resources and destinations were compiled for further development.

During a second visit to Livingstone the following year, the consultant met with representatives of the Livingstone Tourist Association (LTA) and the Zambia National Tourism Board (ZNTB).

Contributing to the problems in tourism development are:

1. The reliance on Sun International’s promises and advertising to attract tourists.
2. The inability on the part of the Livingstone providers to recognize the difference in tourism markets and the need to develop programs rather than rely on a destination to attract tourism.
3. The shifting of responsibility for tourism promotion on other stake holders such as the airport, the city council, or other issues such as the infra-structure, the fee structures, etc.
4. The apparent lack of cooperation between providers who seem to operate in a vacuum. Specific examples were encountered:

1. Zambia Airways currently offers a half-fare deal between Lusaka and Livingstone. Nobody in Lusaka or Livingstone was aware of this offer. Nothing was advertised in the Lusaka papers and no campaign was initiated to contact the estimated 3,000 resident expats in Lusaka.
2. ZNTB published a new, full-sized brochure featuring wildlife, Lusaka, Livingstone, adventure and provider advertisements. The brochure replaces publications made available six years ago through a joint sponsorship with the airlines. LTA was not aware of this publication.

It was noted that foreign outfitters based in Europe and the USA offer trips to Zimbabwe and Botswana to the south of Zambia, and Tanzania to the north of Zambia but exclude Zambia. It may be beneficial for Zamtie to research the reasons behind this. One or a combination of factors may govern these decisions:

1. Lower operating costs for the providers allow the ability to offer packages at lower cost.
2. Incentives offered by the government agencies in these neighboring countries may impact the local providers used by these outfitters.
3. The diversity of wildlife and access to the wildlife may dictate the interest in neighboring countries on the part of established foreign operators.

Zambia does have the reputation of having depleted and poached their wildlife resources to extinction, yet at the same time, Zambia is said to have more national parks and wildlife preserves than most other South African nations. According to the ZNTB, the South Luangwa River Valley is one of the richest natural habitats. These are curious contradictions that do not explain why Zambia is not included in the offerings of foreign providers. Having researched the packages offered by U.S and European based outfitter, it does not appear that price is much of a factor. Packages offered range from $1,500 to $4,500 dependent on the outfitter, the accommodations and the type of activities offered.

More research needs to be done to determine what exactly Zambia’s competitive advantages and disadvantages are, and to what degree the absence of exposure and promotion affects Zambian tourism. There is no doubt, however, that the problems with fee assessment on local providers are only a contributing factor. The absence of packaging and cooperative alliances are a greater barrier to Zambia’s and particularly Livingstone’s ability to attract tourism.