IMPRESSED WITH THE TOURISM MINISTERS FROM AFRICA MEETING HELD ON THE SIDELINES OF THE UNWTO BRAND AFRICA CONFERENCE- says Minister St.Ange of the Seychelles
ATP- Arab tourism portal- The meeting of Tourism Ministers from Africa who were gathered from the 16th August in Accra Ghana for the UNWTO meeting on Enhancing Brand Africa took time to meet under the Chairmanship of UNWTO Commission For Africa (CAF), in the presence of the UNWTO Secretary General, and the Commissioner of Infrastructure and Energy of the African Union (AU):
The African Tourism Ministers said in their meeting with the AU Commissioner for Infrastructure and Energy that it was today necessary for the Chairperson of the AU (African Union) to be briefed on the points raised and for her to be fully updated on what Tourism Ministers from Member States were saying and feeling.
The Ministers referred back to their decision taken at a meeting in Croatia (during a meeting held within the framework of the Executive Council) for a meeting be held in October 2015 in Addis Ababa between African Tourism Ministers under the Chairmanship of the CAF Chairman in the presence of the UNWTO, the Chairperson and Commissioner of the AU, and the Committee of Permanent Representatives to the AU to establish future plans for embedding Tourism in the 2063 Agenda of the AU.
"This Meeting of Tourism Ministers was good and I was particularly impressed by the unity we have amongst ourselves for the one purpose of defending the industry that was today also bringing unity in Africa. We all discussed our feelings about the need for our African Union to better embrace tourism as an industry.
We discussed the importance of the tourism sector on the African continent and we noted the critical role that Tourism has to play as a force for good and an invaluable creator of employment in Africa.
We noted that Tourism in Africa had 55.8 million International Arrivals in 2014 and generated an income of US$ 36.4 billion, and this we all said aloud as it was felt that tourism was contributing positively to the socio-economic development of our respective countries and of our continent" Minister St.Ange of the Seychelles said as Ministers requested for them to meet the AU Chairperson soon.
