The “Assises du Tourisme 2017” was organized by the Ministry of Tourism of Mauritius on 2 June 2017 to reflect on the challenges facing the industry and to chart a roadmap for the short and medium terms to reposition the sector within the new competitive landscape.

More than 200 tourism stakeholders from the public and private sector participated in the Assises, which revolved around four axes: accessibility, visibility, attractiveness and sustainability of the destination.

The Assises also focused on the issues relating to branding of the destination, safety and security, inland transportation, all-inclusive packages and inclusiveness of the industry, to ensure that the benefits of tourism trickle down to the local communities.

Four main recommendations emanated from the Assises:

• Establishing Mauritius as a festive and vibrant destination and a tourism hub in the Indian Ocean.
• Mainstreaming of ecofriendly practices in tourism development.
• Consolidation of the destination branding as well as online visibility through social media, search engine marketing and mobile apps.
• Increasing airlifting from China to Mauritius to capture a greater share of the Chinese outbound tourist.

In his keynote address, the Hon. Minister of Tourism, Anil Gayan, pointed out that "the Assises du Tourisme” provides an opportunity to reevaluate the performance of the sector and to define a strategy for its long term sustainability. The outcome of the Assises will give a new impetus to the sector to face emerging challenges and propel the industry to new heights of development.’’

The UNWTO Regional Commission for Africa continues to deepen its ties with members through the frequent visits of African representatives, visitors and guests to the  UNWTO Headquarters.

Following several years of discussions the government of Somalia expressed its interest to join the organization. H.E. Mr. Abdirahman Omar Osman aka Eng. Yarisow, Minister of Information, Culture & Tourism of the Federal republic of Somalia, undertook a working visit to the UNWTO offices to finalize these discussions and personally extend the interest of his government to the Secretary-General.

The Ambassador of Senegal, H.E. Mr Mamadou Sow, presented his credentials to UNWTO’s Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, accrediting him as Permanent Representative of his country to UNWTO.

One of the main objectives of the UNWTO Regional Programme for Africa is to continuously strengthen the Member relations by inviting African Tourism Ministers to visit the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in view of sharing their priority areas on the tourism sector and update their knowledge on the UNWTO structure and operations, new services and products offered.

At the end of each visit, conclusions and action plans are prepared which serve as tangible collaboration roadmap between UNWTO and the African Member State towards the development of more sustainable tourism in the country.

The UNWTO Regional Programme for Africa encourages all African countries to embrace this initiative that demonstrates strong commitment between our Member states and UNWTO to discover Africa’s infinite potential with its cultural and natural resources in comparison to other regions in attracting valuable tourism.

Following recent agreement between UNWTO and the Republic of Seychelles, UNWTO expert, David McEwen, steered an initial assessment of the current system of Tourism Statistics in Seychelles in view of developing a Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). The latter was conducted through a series of consultative meetings with a number of key stakeholders and an intense 2-day workshop with the aim of identifying challenges and gaps to determine the statistics needed to compile the ten tables required for the TSA.

 Whilst it was pointed out that the ground work have been laid by National Statistics Bureau and other key agencies in having appropriate mechanisms in place to collect the relevant statistics thereby paving the way for a smooth implementation of the TSA, a number of recommendations were proposed including strengthening the visitor survey, establishing focus groups with ground operators and measuring domestic tourism.

The Seychelles is expecting to have a fully-fledged TSA within 3 years.

The Secretary-General visited the Democratic Republic of Congo, Botswana and Mali in order to discuss the development of sustainable tourism in the countries and provide support for the positioning of the travel and tourism sector in their national agendas.

Mr. Rifai started off visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo where he held bilateral meetings with the President of the National Assembly, M. Aubin Minaku, the honorable President of the Senate, M. Léon Kengo wa Dondo and other high level government officials. The discussion points focused on the importance of travel facilitation, the implementation of e-visas, attracting more airlines to the destination and the importance of working on the country’s branding. Mr. Rifai also met with students from L’Institut Supérieur Pédagogique (hotel and tourism), Université Protestante au Congo (faculty of economics) and Université Catholic au Congo (faculty of development) for discussions and debate on the future of tourism in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

At the kind invitation of the Honorable Minister of Environment Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism, Mr. Tshekedi Khama, the Secretary-General travelled on to Gaborone and Maun in Botswana, 24-27 July. During his visit the Secretary-General met with private sector stakeholders of Botswana. Discussions were centered on Botswana’s need for product diversification, having achieved their aim and objectives regarding wildlife conservation, especially in the Okavango Delta.  The Secretary-General had the opportunity to experience for himself the open safari in the Delta at the Wilderness Safari Savuti Camp. Mr Rifai also had the opportunity to meet students from the University of Botswana and listened to their aspirations for the development of tourism within their country. He met with Prof. Thabo T. Fako - acting Vice Chancellor of the University and discussed the possibility of setting up the University as a center of excellence in Botswana. The idea will be further explored with the support of UNWTO.

Mr. Rifai´s stay on the continent concluded with his visit to the Republic of Mali, 3-5 August. The honorable Minister of Handicrafts and Tourism (MAT), S.E. Mme. Nina Walet Intallou, expressed her appreciation for the Secretary-General’s support extended to Mali over the years. His visit was regarded as a message of hope for tourism stakeholders, as development and growth of the tourism sector in the country is challenging. At a meeting with public and private sector stakeholders, the Secretary-General discussed pertinent issues and shared his thoughts on what could be done to further support Mali´s tourism. The Secretary-General was given a tour of the National Museum of Bamako, which gives an amazing overview of Mali’s history. Albeit current challenges, the government of Mali understands the value and importance of the tourism sector to the economy. The political will was further reaffirmed when H.E. Mr. Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta, President of the Republic of Mali accepted the UNWTO/WTTC Open Letter on Travel and Tourism which the Secretary-General had the honor to present to him.

On 30 July, Mr. Taleb Rifai, UNWTO Secretary-General, paid an official visit to the Republic of Mauritius. Mr. Rifai´s visit coincided with the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Air Mauritius, which on the occasion joined the TRAVEL.ENJOY.RESPECT campaign. The latter is a UNWTO consumer-oriented campaign aimed at raising awareness of the value and contribution that sustainable tourism can make towards development in the framework of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017.

Mr. Rifai was welcomed by Hon. A. K. Gayan, Minister of Tourism of the Republic of Mauritius, to discuss the importance of tourism as a driver of economic growth and development. Mr. Rifai also met with several high government officials including H.E. Mrs. A. Gurib-Fakim, GCSK, CSK, President of the Republic of Mauritius to discuss Mauritius´s tourism sector. The President discussed at length with the Secretary-General the importance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their implementation and her vision of turning Rodrigues[1] into an eco-tourism island. The visit was concluded with the presentation of the UNWTO/WTTC Open Letter on Travel and Tourism by Mr. Rifai to the H.E. the President, who acknowledged the relevance of travel and tourism on national level.

As part of the 50^th anniversary celebrations, Air Mauritius organized a Seminar on ‘Aviation and Sustainable Tourism’, bringing together leaders of the industry with Mr. Somas Appavou, CEO of Air Mauritius, the Chairman of the airline, Dr. Arjoon Suddhoo and Mr. Rifai to discuss the challenges small island state airlines are currently faced with. 

During his four-day visit, Mr. Rifai met with Hon. Mr. Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, Minister of Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine of the Republic of Seychelles and Mr. P. Viroleau, CEO of the Vanilla Islands Organization, who briefed him on the operations that Turkish Airlines has recently set up in the Indian Ocean region working closely with some of the Vanilla Islands Member States.

The first National Conference on Tourism in the Republic of Congo was held in Brazzaville, 17- 18 July, organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure and with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and UNWTO.  The Conference brought together national administrations, representatives of the private sector and international institutions with the objective to gain support for the country’s tourism sector.

During the conference H.E. Mrs. Arlette Soudan- Nonault, Minister of Tourism and Leisure, launched the National Tourism Strategy designed with the support of UNWTO and UNDP. With the implementation of this master plan, Congo hopes to raise the share of tourism to GDP from 3% to 10% by 2021. The Tourism Conference marks the second stage in the implementation of the National Tourism Development Strategy.

The forum included panel discussions on several key topics such as The Blue Fund - an opportunity for ecotourism -, difficulties faced by private sector operators, good governance, the integration of civil society as key to the development of sustainable tourism in the Republic of Congo and the integration of Destination Congo in the rebranding of Destination Africa. The country is also calling upon the commitment of stakeholders to mobilize necessary funding for tourism development. It intends to consolidate the ‘Destination Congo Brazzaville’, for the sector to contribute to the diversification of the country's economy.

In addition to his participation at the forum, Mr. Taleb Rifai, held several bilateral meetings with key government officials including with H.E. Mr. Denis Sassou-Nguesso, President of the Republic of Congo and the Prime Minister H.E. Clément Mouamba. Upon receiving the UNWTO/WTTC Open Letter on Travel and Tourism1 from Mr. Rifai, H.E. the President reaffirmed the government’s commitment to position tourism as one of its priority sectors for sustainable development. During his visit, Mr. Rifai together with H.E. Mrs. Arlette Soudan- Nonault unveiled a commemorative plaque in celebration of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

The Comoros has been an important trading post for Arab, Persian, African and European traders since the 15th century. It is a sovereign island nation, independent since 1975. The country is a Federal Republic with a head of state and head of government, the honorable President Azali Assoumani. The island is located in the Indian Ocean at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel off the eastern coast of Africa between northeastern Mozambique and northwestern Madagascar. The Comoros archipelago comprises many different islands.

The leading sector of the economy is agriculture. The Comoros is the world´s largest producer of ylang-ylang and a large producer of vanilla. The tourism sector is relatively underdeveloped, but has been identified by the government as a priority growth sector. The main attractions of the Comoros are its beaches, underwater fishing, and mountain scenery. The Comoros has three official languages – Comorian, Arabic and French. The Comoros is the third-smallest African nation by area.

There is a strong political will by the government to diversify the economy of Comoros; their joining UNWTO further emphasizes the importance their leadership is giving to its tourism sector. The islands of the Comoros have a high potential to develop an immense tourism sector. The nature based attractions of the islands are still pristine, the Karthala volcano which is among the most active volcanos of the world and the incredible biodiversity that is present in the forest of the Comoros are all key selling points for promoting the destination. The Comoros have the typical tropical charm with a temperature that is around 20 to 30 degrees all year round. Other characteristics of the Comoros are the rock formations, the turtles and the marine national park. The Comoros is the only place where you can still visit the Livingstone fruit bats and therefore makes it an important conservation place. The message is clear, the Comoros, although still a developing country, has immense potential to tap into the economic, social and environment benefits of the tourism sector and to attract tourists to their beautiful country.

The UNWTO Sub-regional Capacity Building Course in Ghana on Tourism Marketing: from Product to Experience organized by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), its UNWTO.Themis Foundation and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of the Republic of Ghana was inaugurated today 12th October by Hon. Deputy Minister Dr. Ziblim Barri Iddi, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Ghana; Dr. Joel Sonne, acting Chief Director, Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of Ghana; Okatakyie Nana Anim I, National President, Ghana Tourism Federation; and Mrs. Lydia Bebe Kum, UNWTO Programme Officer.

Also present at the ceremony were Ms. Edith Szivas (UK), Course Coordinator and the facilitators Mr. Nick Bodger (UK) and Ms. Montserrat Peñarroya (Spain).
 

The aim of this course is twofold: on the one side, it aims at enhancing the skills of participants in areas of Tourism Marketing, and especially Experiential Marketing; on the other side, it intends to respond to Ghana’s and its neighboring countries’ concrete need to consolidate its growth potential through tourism marketing using state-of-the-art strategies and tools. In this view, the programme of the course is designed to actively involve participants, present factual information and deliver tangible inputs as well as long-term benefits.