The Minister of Tourism, Márcio de Jesus Lopes Daniel, on Friday (15 July) granted a courtesy audience to representatives of airlines operating in Angola, with the aim of strengthening cooperation with the aviation sector, improving air connectivity and creating conditions for an increase in the flow of visitors and investment in the tourism sector.
The meeting was attended by representatives of TAAG – Linhas Aéreas de Angola, TAP Air Portugal, Emirates, Turkish Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, Airlink and Lufthansa.
During the meeting, opportunities were analysed for strengthening Angola’s air links with priority source markets, expanding international connectivity and creating new routes, taking into account the potential growth in demand for the destination Angola.
One of the main themes presented was the Stopover Programme, an initiative that aims to transform the passage of passengers in transit through Angola into an opportunity to get to know and consume the national tourist destination.
Through this initiative, the Ministry intends to encourage passengers in transit to extend their stay in the country, creating opportunities for the consumption of accommodation, catering, transport, tourist entertainment and experience services.
The Minister of Tourism, Márcio de Jesus Lopes Daniel, considered the relationship between the tourism sector and aviation to be strategic, stressing that the growth of tourism also depends on the ability to ensure efficient and competitive air connections.
“Air connectivity is one of the fundamental conditions for the growth of tourism. It is not enough to have destinations, we need to ensure that people can reach them. We want to continue working with airlines to transform the increase in passenger flow into more tourists, more consumption, more investment and more opportunities for Angolan companies,” said the Minister of Tourism, Márcio de Jesus Lopes Daniel.
The minister also highlighted the need to align the interests of aviation with the objectives of developing national tourism.
“We are building a win-win relationship. Airlines gain new passengers and markets, national companies gain more customers and Angola gains more visitors, investment, jobs and revenue. It is this convergence of interests that we want to transform into a tourism growth strategy”, he reinforced.
The meeting also allowed an exchange of perspectives on the main challenges and opportunities related to air connectivity, as well as the identification of possible joint initiatives to increase the flow of visitors, improve the experience of arrival and circulation of tourists and strengthen the integration between aviation and the tourism value chain.
