AFRICA NEEDS MORE TOURISTS, DESERVES MORE TOURISTS
(Posted 03rd January 2017)
Minister Lai Mohammed, Nigeria’s Minister responsible for Tourism, Information and Culture is in the Seychelles on a working and fact finding visit and yesterday held a meeting with Mr. Alain St. Ange, the island’s immediate former Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine. Mr. St. Ange at the end of December declared his intent to vie for the post of Secretary General of the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) when he resigned his ministerial position.
Minister Lai Mohammed and former Minister St. Ange were both at the COP 22 in Morocco. ‘We first met on the sideline of COP 22 in Morocco and yesterday’s meeting was an opportunity for us to discuss tourism in Africa and the coming UNWTO elections where I am a candidate for the position of Secretary General‘ St. Ange said.
‘Seychelles remains very much a country dependant on tourism and the good practices here in the field of tourism should be seen and used as examples‘ said the Minister from Nigeria before adding: ‘Africa is getting but 5% of the world tourism traffic, yet Africa has everything tourists are searching for. We need to work together to change this‘.
On his part the former Minister from the Seychelles concluded that unity in Africa to ensure we are seen as one continent is essential. ‘We also need to work on our safety label especially now, because tourists are in search of safe and secure holiday destinations‘.
