The ministry of Trade, Industry and Tourism on Tuesday launched the 2018 national tourism month with a call to players in the industry to embrace technology as a strategy to unlock its potential and maximize profits.

The Secretary for the ministry Ken Ndala made the call on Tuesday in Lilongwe in his official remarks when launching 2018 national tourism month saying there are many interesting technological trends occurring in the sector which can expand the tourism industry.

Ndala added that government is committed to work closely with private sector to promote innovations aimed at boosting the sector’s growth.

“With the current trends in technology it is important to adopt innovations in tourism businesses that will help to uplift the sector,” he said.

In his remarks, the vice chairperson for Malawi Tourism Council (MTC) Rolings Moyo said this year’s theme is timely and urged players in the sector to work on strategies that will help to catch up with technology.

Moyo added: “We need a multispectral approach to harness technology and promote innovations that will attract people to patronize tourism centres.”

Several activities such as chitenje night in Blantyre, regional workshop on tourism and digital transformation in Nkhatabay, regional street carnival in Blantyre and the famous lake of stars in Salima have been lined up to spice up the month .

The minister of Trade, Industry and Tourism Henry Mussa will lead the country on 27 September in commemorating the world day for tourism at a function which will be held at Bingu International Convention Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe under the theme “Tourism and the digital transformation”.