Sustainable Development Impacts of Investment Incentives: A Case Study of Malawi's Tourism Sector

The document assesses the effectiveness of investment incentives used to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malawi's tourism sector, finding that such incentives are not the primary driver of investment and may conflict with sustainable development goals.

• Investment incentives are not the primary determinant for FDI in the tourism sector; instead, investment decisions are driven by factors such as natural resources, raw material costs, cheap labour, inflation, interest rates, and foreign exchange.
• A significant majority of interviewed tourism investors would have established their businesses in Malawi regardless of the existence of investment incentives, and the incentives did not influence the nature of their business establishment.
• Analysis of the top ten imports qualifying for incentives indicates that these measures conflict with sustainable and environmental development principles and have failed to meet policy targets.
• Bureaucratic hurdles at the Malawi Revenue Authority hinder the use of incentives, as the process for following up on waivers is often too long and expensive to justify the incentive's value.

APA

Kiratu,, N. N. (2010). Sustainable Development Impacts of Investment Incentives: A Case Study of Malawi's Tourism Sector. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/sustainable-development-impacts-investment-incentives-case-study-malawis

Chicago

Kiratu,, Nelson Nsiku,Sheila. Sustainable Development Impacts of Investment Incentives: A Case Study of Malawi's Tourism Sector. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2010. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/sustainable-development-impacts-investment-incentives-case-study-malawis.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kiratu, |first1=Nelson Nsiku,Sheila |title=Sustainable Development Impacts of Investment Incentives: A Case Study of Malawi's Tourism Sector |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=10 February 2010 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/sustainable-development-impacts-investment-incentives-case-study-malawis |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kiratu2010sustainable, author = {Kiratu,, Nelson Nsiku,Sheila}, title = {{Sustainable Development Impacts of Investment Incentives: A Case Study of Malawi's Tourism Sector}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2010}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/sustainable-development-impacts-investment-incentives-case-study-malawis}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }