ZIM SAYS ZAMBIA IS LAGGING BEHIND IN UNWTO ORGANISATIONS

Zambia Institute of Marketing (ZIM) Executive Director, Frederick Chituta, says Zambia is lagging behind Zimbabwe in terms of preparations for the hosting of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly set next year.

Mr Chituta attributed the developed to government’s delay in commencing the preparations for the global event which will be co hosted by Zambia and Zimbabwe in August, 2013.

Speaking in an interview in Livingstone today, Mr Chituta said the country was not yet ready to host the global event as a lot was yet to be put in place in Livingstone.

He, however, said efforts were being made to catch up with neighbouring Zimbabwe and ZIM had engaged government through the Ministry of Commerce in collaboration with the Zambia Tourist Board (ZTB) to sell the country by marketing its tourism potential.

Meanwhile, Mr Chituta highlighted the high cost of doing business in Livingstone as a challenge that needed to be urgently addressed.

He complained that solutions to the high cost of doing business were not easy, adding that tourists were rational people who were not ready to pay more for services and activities they could access elsewhere at a lower cost.

And ZIM President, David Kombe, called for enhancing leadership in business as doing so contributed positively to the development of the nation.

Mr Kombe bemoaned the sidelining of marketing as a viable profession going by the limited budgetary allocation and capacity building it received within organizations.

He said many businesses were failing due to lack of investment in marketing since business owners did not embrace the profession but expected consumers to come forward on their own to buy their products.

Mr Kombe said marketing was not a by-the-way service and as such all companies involved in trade had to employ qualified marketing personnel registered by the institute if they expected to sustain their businesses and contribute to the growth of the economy.

Furthermore, Mr Kombe said the quality of advertisements in the Zambian media left much to be desired and to that effect, ZIM had engaged local stakeholders and the Advertising Standards of South Africa to help the country improve the quality of advertisements.

The Zambia Institute of Marketing is holding its 16^thAnnual Marketing conference from the 8^th to 9^th November 2012 at Chrismar Hotel in Livingstone under the theme: “Leadership-A catalyst for Sustainable Business Growth.”