Title: Challenges and policies to address tourism leakages in Malawi: a business ownership structure perspective

Authors: Noah Edson Nansongole; Andrea Saayman

Addresses: Tourism Research in Economics, Environs and Society (TREES), North-West University, South Africa; Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife, Private Bag 326, Lilongwe 3, Malawi ' School of Economic Sciences, and TREES, North-West University, Private Bag X6001, Potchefstroom, 2520, South Africa

Abstract: Leakages present a policy dilemma for developing countries seeking to accelerate economic growth through tourism. This research aims to evaluate current policies, identify challenges and prioritise strategies to reduce tourism leakages in Malawi, a developing country. This is done with cognisance of the interplay between locally-owned and foreign-owned companies. Quantitative data was collected nationally from randomly selected stratified samples comprising tourist accommodation, tour operators and airline companies. The study identified poor sector and industry linkages, a lack of robust national airlines, gaps in legislation, and a fragmented approach to handling leakages as the main policy challenges in country-level causes of leakages in Malawi. The results also show that different ownership structures agree to some extent with these challenges and strategies, although differences in priorities do exist. The study recommended changes in tourism investment, taxation, trade, economic and tourism training policies to reduce tourism leakages in Malawi.

Keywords: tourism leakages; international tourist income; foreign-owned businesses; local tourism business; developing countries; policies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTP.2025.146026

International Journal of Tourism Policy, 2025 Vol.15 No.2, pp.117 - 132

Received: 28 Aug 2024
Accepted: 13 Dec 2024
Published online: 01 May 2025 *

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