Fourth International Conference on Tourism and Leisure Studies

Abstract

Sustainability has become a buzzword in most sustainable development policy documents in sub - Saharan African countries. Despite the flowery language that is used in these documents, the practicality of the documented desires has been questioned in these countries. This qualitative study looks at the sustainable tourism policy document in Malawi from the environmental management perspective. In-depth interviews were conducted in public and private sector organizations that regulate and operate in the tourism sector. The analysis of the results revealed that; 1 - Policy document was just copied and pasted because it lacked an appropriate policing tool, 2- The public sector had no capacity to implement, enforce the policy and monitor practice, and 3 - The private sector was not aware of the policy. The study concluded that the policy document was just copied and pasted from elsewhere and as such was not effective in promoting sustainability as envisaged in the policy document. The study recommends collaboration in policy formulation because this is the only way of coming up with an effective tourism sustainability policy document for Malawi.