Minister of Community Development and Social Services Michael Kaingu of Zambia

Ndola TOURISM, Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Michael Kaingu has called on the Zambian media to report accurately on environmental issues to provide information that will encourage communities to guard against degradation.

Speaking in Lusaka yesterday at Zamcom Lodge when he officially opened a two-day media workshop on environmental reporting, Mr Kaingu said the media had a critical role to play in the promotion of good and sustainable environment.

Mr Kaingu said in a speech read for him by acting Permanent Secretary, Esther Sinkala that the Zambian media seemed not adequately equipped on raising public awareness about the benefits of protecting their environment.

Mr Kaingu said the Government was doing everything possible to create a conducive environment that would enable the media to work on environmental issues adding that the move would help to spread more information to the communities.

Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Michael Kaingu said the programme to open new tourism resorts will offer Zambia an opportunity to show case her tourism potential to other regions in the world.

Kaingu has urged tour operators in the country to take advantage of the forth-coming 2010 Soccer World Cup tournament and the 2011 All African Games in Zambia by seriously market the country’s tourism potential.

Kaingu said tour operators should make the 2010 Soccer World Cup slated for South Africa and the 2011 All African Games to be held in Zambia as a marketing tool for the country’s tourism sector.

Kaingu has since challenged the private sector to join efforts with government and take advantage of the coming World Cup and the All African Games to improve the hospitality standards and the communication sector in the country.

By Mutale Kapekele and Namakau Nalumango The Post Wednesday March 12, 2008 THERE is no need to get permission from Zimbabwe to build in the Victoria Falls heritage site joint management area, tourism minister Michael Kaingu has said.

And Kaingu has appointed a new national Museums Board to be chaired by Mubita Imukue.

Asked whether the ministry of tourism had consulted its Zimbabwean counterpart on the allocation of a plot to Legacy Holdings on the fringes of the joint management area, Kaingu said the plot was in Zambia and that his office had no explanations to make.

Mr Kaingu said discussions with Legacy would take about two months and then Government would give a position on the matter.

In the interview with the Zambia News and Information Services, Mr Kaingu said that attractions in the country should look to hire more local staff as they prepare for the influx of tourists.

Kaingu said the donation is part of the government's plans to re-stock the elephant population.

Former Tourism minister, Michael Kaingu has been moved to.

On his part, Kaingu described Denmark as an all-weather friend from whom Zambia had immensely benefited in various development areas over the years.

Commissioning the village, Minister of Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Michael Kaingu described the opening of the facility as a milestone in the history of the Zambian tourism sector.

In a speech read by director of tourism development, Justina Wake, Mr Kaingu said the village was an enterprise that added a unique cultural dimension to the tourism base in the lower Zambezi, which is popular for nature-based tourism.

Mr Kaingu said the TFCA would open more opportunities for tourism markets that would add value to cultural tourism business.

Kaingu said his Ministry wanted to ensure that tourism development was not only concentrated in urban areas but spreads to all parts of the country.

Zambia Tourism, Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Michael Kaingu has clarified that visa fees for single entry have been adjusted from US$25 to US$50, while multi-entry visa fees have been hiked from US$40 to US$80.

Tourism Minister, Michael Kaingu has appealed to financial institutions to lower lending rates to enable tourist operators and marketers borrow more for the expansion of the tourism industry in the country.

Kaingu said this in Lusaka yestterday when he officiated at the first ever Zambia International Travel Show organized by Africast Exhibition Management at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka today.

Kaingu has asked tourism operators and marketers to pay the new visa fees in order to help government maintain tourism infrastructure in the country.

Kaingu said government is not going to scrap off the effected visa fees as it was the only source of revenue for developing tourism destinations.

Kaingu said this translates into a 3 percent contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP.

Kaingu said tourism is not only part of the social sector but plays an important role the economic sector as well.

Kaingu is charging high prices for local Zambians at his lodge then he should be sacked.

Deputy tourism minister Michael Kaingu said poachers surrendered over 500 illegal firearms and 5 000 snares within a period of 10 months through a programme supported by the Norwegian government.

QUOTE “It is a known fact that people with no sustainable livelihood will inevitably turn to the natural resources as a source of livelihood,” Kaingu said in a statement.

In a ministerial statement, Mr Kaingu said global warming effects had the potential to frustrate the smooth implementation of development strategies including the Fifth National Development Plan (FNDP) and the Vision 2030.

Mr Kaingu said climate change threatened to reverse gains that had been scored in several sectors of many economies including poverty reduction efforts in most developing countries like Zambia.

especially in the northern circuit, would be enhanced.

People of Southern province should not waste their vote on UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema in the forthcoming presidential bye-election because he won’t win in other provinces, Tourism minister Michael Kaingu has said.

Kaingu said that time has come for the people of southern province to redeem themselves by not voting on tribal lines and instead vote for Mr.

Mr Kaingu said it was disheartening that people in Kasaya in Mwandi constituency had become perennial flood victims because they have held on to the low flood-prone areas.

Mr Kaingu said it was disappointing that the people in the flood-prone areas in his constituency had cultivated the habit of waiting for floods even when there was sufficient warning that the floods would hit them.

Mr Kaingu has called for immediate mobilisation of resources and transport to evacuate the displaced people to safer places.

Mr Kaingu said if the Lozi people in the perennially flooded plains were as were as “careless” as the villagers of Kasaya in Kazungula, there would be a disaster every year in the Zambezi plains.

And Kaingu said the addition of camels to the list of animals in Zambia would enhance tourism products.

Kaingu said the cabinet sat recently to review the visa fees, and that the move was intended at attracting more tourists into the country.