Sat, 04 Feb 2017 12:41:15 +0000
TRADITIONAL leaders should discover and market tourist attractions around their chiefdoms that Government is not aware of and also come up with chiefdom museums to preserve their culture in an effort to revamp the tourism sector, Chief Chamuka of the Lenje people of Chisamba in Central Province has advised.
Chief Chamuka said that growth in Zambian’s tourism sector was too slow but that traditions had the potential to accelerate growth in the sector.
He said in an interview with the Daily Nation that one way by which tourism could be promoted in Zambia was by marketing hidden natural resources such as hot springs, waterfalls and others that were not known to the outside world.
Chief Chamuka stressed the need to come up with chiefdom museums that would display the artifacts and other cultural treasures that were used by the forefathers. He explained that the museums and the newly marketed natural resources would help lure more tourists into the country, hence ensuring that the tourism sector was viable.
Chief Chamuka said that most chiefdoms in the country were blessed with heritage sites that were not heard of or known to most people and that it was important for chiefs to market such tourist attractions.
“Traditions can contribute immensely to revamping our tourism sector and make sure that it is viable. There are important points in every chiefdom such as hot springs, waterfalls, confluences and others that are not even known to most people. Even chiefdom museums like what Chief Chikanta in Southern Province has done can improve tourism,” he said.
Chief Chamuka pointed out that Zambia had a lot of unexplored resources that needed to be marketed and made use of.
Chief Chamuka said traditional ceremonies must be thoroughly advertised and given special status on the tourism calendar.
He pointed out that highly regarded traditional ceremonies such as the Kuomboka ceremony of the Lozi speaking people had attracted a lot of tourists into the country in the past.
Chief Chamuka assured that the country’s tourism sector would be revamped if traditions, cultures and hidden resources were discovered, preserved and vigorously marketed.
