H.E.Siandou Fofana, the Minister of Tourism of Côte d’Ivoire and Chairperson of UNWTO Regional Commission for Africa and UNWTO Executive Council has charged African countries to forge closer relationships with one another to enable them advance their respective development agenda; especially in the tourism sector.
He said countries on the continent had shown remarkable resilience in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic that threatened to erode successes that had been chalked, and it was time for them to rebuild the sector.
“Thanks to the decrease in intensity of the coronavirus pandemic, we are finally seeing a way out of the crisis at the end of 2022, enabling us to relaunch our projects and the initiatives undertaken by our continent. Our States have shown their resilience in the face of this unexpected event and it is high time to remobilize in order to resume the work begun,” he stated.
The Minister of Tourism for Cote D’Ivoire said this in his address to the 65th Meeting of the UNWTO Regional Commission for Africa in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania.
According to him, “Africa will not cease to be the continent of tomorrow and to this end, we must now work in order to be able to step forward and walk together to the place of giving and receiving. Many challenges lie ahead. The time has therefore come to strengthen our resolve to continue the development of our sector.”
The Minister mentioned that there were lessons to be gleaned from COVID-19 as the tourism industry takes gradual steps to full recovery.
“This global pandemic is a reminder of the need for African tourism to take the issue of health and public hygiene seriously,” he stressed.
With an increased focus on digitalisation, H.E. Siandou Fofona advised on harnessing the power of technology to ensure that the tourism sector is abreast of recent developments. According to him, digitalization is an efficient and effective tool that should be adopted in the recovery process.
“It is important to address the issue of digitalization and the development of start-ups in our ecosystem in order to meet the challenges of these new times.”
