Tourism Sector

In recent years, Malawi has become a popular destination for meetings, incentives, conferences and events locally and internationally. Over the years, the country has seen a stable increase in the number of international tourist arrivals rising at an average rate of 5 percent annually from 2015 to 2019

Tourism has experienced growth due to Malawi’s tropical climate and scenic landscape, with visitor numbers increasing in recent years.

Some interesting facts: Malawi is Africa’s newest big 5 destination Lake Malawi is the Africa’s third largest lake and the eleventh deepest in the world. 650 species of birds and 10% of which cannot be seen in other parts of southern Africa

  • In 2020 however, international visitor arrivals dropped by 80 percent to around 198,000 visitors as shown in the table below. This significant drop is mainly attributed to the global travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • This has significantly affected the country’s target of reaching 1,200,000 international tourist arrivals by 2021 as envisaged in the Tourism Marketing Strategic Plan.

Total international visitors

The sectoral contribution to GDP of the tourism sector over the past few years, with an estimation for 2021 and projection for 2022 and 2023

Sectoral contribution to GDP (%)

The annual percentage growth rate of the tourism sector over the past few years, with an estimation for 2021 and projections for 2022 and 2023

Annual percentage growth rate (%)

The investment opportunities in the Tourism services sector include

Eco–tourism in protected areas

Hotels and resorts along the shores of Lake Malawi

Hotels and Conference facilities in major towns and cities

Camps and Lodges

Lake and water sports

Entertainment centers and Casinos

Cable Car and associate facilities on Mount Mulanje.