Zambia and Zimbabwe will partner to host the world’s biggest tourism event, the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) General Assembly in August.
There are expected to be around 4,000 participants at the event jointly held in Zambia’s tourism capital, Livingstone, and Zimbabwe border resort town of Victoria Falls from August 24 to 29.
A series of ICT initiatives will be put in place to ensure the cross border event runs smoothly including a live broadcast of proceedings.
Chisha Malunda, from the Zambia Information Communication Authority (ZICTA), said:
“As a regulator, we will ensure that service providers uphold high levels of quality service provision, fair promotions, and safe use of the cyber space, protected consumer rights and interest as well as harness possible investors in the sector.”
ICT has been utilised for quality services in many countries with successful tourism such as Kenya, South Africa and Mauritius.
ZAMTEL, Zambia’s mobile provider, has said will invest US$4 million in improving the telecommunication network in Livingstone before the UNWTO event.
The ZAMTEL managing director, Mupanga Mwanakatwe, said early this year the project will see all hotels and lodges have direct access to the fibre optic network to provide faster access of internet in the rooms.
“The comprehensive upgrade of the ZAMTEL mobile network in Livingstone would be increased to 21 cell sites within the tourist capital, meaning that more software would be added,” he said.
Zambia and Zimbabwe will be the second African countries to host the conference. The first African country to host it was Senegal in Dakar in 2007.
