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The Zambia Tourism Agency (ZTA), eager to use football to create more long-term awareness about Zambia’s tourism offerings, is talks with an English Premier League club and a Spanish LaLiga club for sponsorship for a season.
ZTA Chief Executive Matongo Matamwandi told Travel Trade Gazette (TTG), a weekly newspaper for the travel industry that Government has approved an increase in trade marketing budgets.
Matamwandi said that key source markets, including the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, would get 70 percent of the budget, with the rest going towards China, India and Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
He said additionally, government funds had been allocated to sponsor both a Premier League club and a Spanish LaLiga club for a season, with talks currently underway to secure deals.
“We want to use football to create more long-term awareness,” he said.
The injection of funding was prompted by surveys carried out in Zambia’s key source markets, which revealed gaps in consumer knowledge.
“We discovered we are not a well-known destination,” said Matamwandi.
“We need to put more effort, more money, more energy into the brand visibility of our destination, and that starts with the trade.”
A deal with a Spanish LaLiga club and a Premier League club would rival Rwanda, which has marketing deal with English Premier League club, Arsenal.
Rwanda is the official tourism partner of English football club Arsenal after signing a deal estimated to be worth £30 million (about $40m).
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Arsenal players don the “Visit Rwanda” on the sleeves of their shirts.
Arsenal’s global following helps transport Rwanda into people’s minds in a dynamic way.
It is believed that the Arsenal shirt is seen 35 million times a day around the world as the club is one of the most followed around the globe.
Arsenal’s first team, the under-23 and women’s players all don shirts with Visit Rwanda logo on their sleeves.
The sponsorship deal also includes Visit Rwanda branding on LED boards during match day and interview backdrops.
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