The World Tourism Organization, its UNWTO. Themis Foundation and the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture of the Republic of Ghana are jointly organizing the UNWTO Sub-regional Capacity Building Course on “Tourism Marketing: from product to experience”, in Accra, Ghana, to be held from 12 to 17 October 2017. The working language for the course will be English.

Digital technologies have introduced major changes to tourists’ behaviour, tastes and models of consumption. Traditional, one-way communication activities are rapidly losing their effectiveness, threatened by changes brought by experienced and digitally sophisticated consumers. While services and goods increasingly become commoditised, consumers unquestionably desire unique experiences. Therefore, businesses must respond to this request by designing and promoting experiences to add value to their goods and services. This is particularly the case in the tourism sector, where the purchase of goods and services is instrumental in living an experience, rather than fulfilling a need.

Thus, in a more and more competitive environment, the design of tourism experiences becomes a key issue in the tourism offer development process and consequently, in the destination quality and competitiveness enhancement. Tourism experiences integrate elements related to emotional and psychological attributes, intuitive and social involvement and sensorial interactions, constituting determining factors for destination’s competitiveness. In this context, and in line with global trends, many destinations are embracing a new marketing approach, where experiences and stories are at the heart of their promotional activities.

This course, as all UNWTO.Capacity initiatives, adopts a fact-driven approach, by presenting state-of-the-art theory through the analysis of real-life case examples and in-class activities, tailored on participants’ knowledge and objectives. The modular structure is conducive of a highly interactive learning experience that blends presentations, case studies, discussions, debates and practical activities.

Mrs. Elcia Grancdcourt, Programme Director for Regional programme for Africa commented that in a time when businesses around the world are competing in highly commoditized markets, we in the tourism sector have also realized that in order to remain relevant we must explore new approaches in order to deliver the experience that our customers expect. We have to continuously be able to exceed our customers’ expectations and in order to do so we must ensure that the new ideas and concepts are shared to the stakeholders. It is in this regard that UNWTO in collaboration with THEMIS Foundation is hosting this workshop which comes at an opportune time as it aims to equip the participants on how best to make use of the new platforms that are available to the benefit of the tourism industry in their respective countries and wished them a successful workshop.

With the rapid growth of the tourism sector in West and Central Africa, tourism has become an important pillar for local economies in many destinations in the Region. Challenges in preserving the biodiversity in an appropriate and quality environment may in the long run affect visitors´ satisfaction which ultimately would result in lower income generation from tourist related activities. Consequently, UNWTO in collaboration with Chimelong, has launched a capacity building programme in West and Central Africa involving 5 countries and for which the first beneficiaries, who are Gabon, Benin and Niger, have already benefited from it. 

Home to 13 national parks covering 11% of the country, Gabon has a rich biodiversity including species of global conservation concern such as forest elephants, lowland gorillas and sea turtles. As a result, the country has been identified by UNWTO as the first country to host the seminar on capacity building on tourism and biodiversity, taking place June 20-22. Similarly, Niger and Benin, home to the Park W the largest territory of protected savanna in West Africa, have been identified for the second training from July 11-13, involving participants from both countries. The seminars are part of the UNWTO/Chimelong initiative, aiming at enhancing natural resources management for improved social and economic benefit to local communities.

Taking place in the Pongara National Park, 20 minutes away from Libreville (Gabon) by boat and the W National Park, 2 hours away from Niamey (Niger), the seminars welcomed tourism and environment stakeholders from the public and private sector. In order to encompass all the challenges surrounding conservation in these countries, the participants were ranging from executives to employees of parks, hotels and tour operators; Gabon hosted 25 participants coming from different parts of Gabon, while Niger welcomed 36 participants coming from Benin and Niger.

The successful completion of this UNWTO/Chimelong initiative was facilitated by the support of each Ministry led by H.E. Mrs. Madeleine Berre Minister of Private Investment Promotion, Trade, Tourism and Industry in Gabon, H.E. Mr. Ahmet Botto, Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts in Niger and H.E. Mr. Ange N´Koue Minister of Tourism and Culture in Benin. The efforts put forward by these 3 governments in hosting these workshops highlights the importance given by them to the contribution of the tourism sector in their countries to socio economic development and biodiversity conservation.

Building up on this promising start, the last two seminars in the series will take place in the Republic of Guinea and the Democratic Republic of Congo in October 2017.

PR No.: PR 17086

A flourishing economic sector responsible for 21 million jobs – 1 out of 14 -. This is how the UNCTAD Report on ‘Economic Development in Africa: Tourism as a catalyst for Transformative and Inclusive Growth’ describes tourism in Africa. The document also recalls that tourism represents around 46% of all service exports in Africa.

Together with a detailed analyses of the economic impact of tourism in Africa, the publication includes a number of policy recommendations such as the fostering tourism development to bridge the gaps with rural areas and as a driving force to reduce poverty.  

“The power of tourism is not only related to big figures in economic terms, but also in its impact on inclusiveness, gender equality, recovery processes after conflict and peace,” said Claudia Roethlisberger, Economist at UNCTAD who has participated in the development of the Report.

The Report compiles data from 1995-1998 and 2011-2014 and highlights the progress from 24 to 56 million international tourist arrivals in the continent, as well as the evolution from 14 USD billion to 47 billion USD dollars in exports from international tourism. At present, tourism is estimated by UNCTAD to be responsible for the 8.5% of the GDP in the continent.

“The UNCTAD “Economic Development in Africa Report 2017: Tourism for Transformative and Inclusive Growth” represents an outstanding research work around key issues for UNWTO and our African Member States and UNCTAD should be praised for this initiative in the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, 2017” said UNWTO Executive Director for Operational Programmes and Institutional Relations,  Márcio Favilla.

Additional information

Link to the report

UNWTO Africa Programme

International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development

Photos of the Event

Contacts:

UNWTO Media Officer Rut Gomez Sobrino

Tel: (+34) 91 567 81 60 / rgomez@unwto.org

UNWTO Communications & Publications Programme

Tel: (+34) 91 567 8100 / Fax: +34 91 567 8218 / comm@UNWTO.org

U N I T E D   N A T I O N S                                             N A T I O N S   U N I E S

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

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MESSAGE ON AFRICA DAY 2017

25 May 2017

Africa Day 2017 comes at an important moment in the continent’s endeavours towards peace, inclusive economic growth and sustainable development.

The international community has entered the second year of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, an all-out effort to tackle global poverty, inequality, instability and injustice.  Africa has adopted its own complementary and ambitious plan: Agenda 2063. 

For the people of Africa to fully benefit from these important efforts, these two agendas need to be strategically aligned. 

Just last month, we held the first-ever United Nations – African Union Annual Conference, a unique opportunity to strengthen our partnership and establish a higher platform of cooperation.  Our work is based on four driving principles:  mutual respect, solidarity, complementarity and interdependence.

The UN partnership with Africa is also rooted in a deep sense of gratitude.  Africa provides the majority of United Nations peacekeepers around the world.  African nations are among the world’s largest and most generous hosts of refugees.  Africa includes some of the world’s fastest growing economies. 

All of humanity will benefit by listening, learning and working with the people of Africa.

It starts with prevention.  Our world needs to move from managing crises to preventing them in the first place.  We need to break the cycle of responding too late and too little. 

Most of today’s conflicts are internal, triggered by competition for power and resources, inequality, marginalization, disrespect for human rights and sectarian divides.  Often, they are inflamed by violent extremism or provide the fuel for it. 

But prevention goes far beyond focusing solely on conflict.  The best means of prevention and the surest path to durable peace is inclusive and sustainable development.   It is critical to continue building more effective and accountable institutions to address governance challenges, advance the rule of law and promote civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights.

We can speed progress by doing more to provide opportunities and hope to young people.  More than three out of five Africans are under 35 years of age.  Making the most of this tremendous asset means more investment in education, training, decent work, and engaging young people in shaping their future.

We must also do our utmost to empower women so they can play a full role in sustainable development and sustainable peace.  I am pleased that the African Union has consistently placed a special focus on gender equality and women’s empowerment. 

On this Africa Day, I reaffirm my commitment as a partner, friend and committed advocate for changing the narrative about this diverse and vital continent. 

Crises represent at best a partial view.  But from a higher platform of cooperation, we can see the whole picture – one that recognizes the enormous potential and remarkable success stories throughout the African continent. 

The Convention on Biological Diversity of the United Nations has chosen ‘Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism’ as the theme for the International Day for Biological Diversity, celebrated today 22 May 2017. On this occasion, UNWTO is launching a capacity building programme on sustainable tourism and biodiversity protection, to be implemented in West and Central Africa.

The programme will build on previous tourism and biodiversity seminars that UNWTO successfully delivered in The Gambia, Ghana, and Tanzania and will address biodiversity conservation and environmental protection, taking into account the importance of this topic to safeguard future opportunities for local people to generate income from sustainable tourism development.

The seminars to be held staring June 2017 will focus on building capacities of tourism stakeholders and on maintaining and improving the quality of the tourism product to enhance client satisfaction in the following countries: Benin, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Guinea (Conakry), and Niger.

Primary beneficiaries of the capacity building programme are tourism employees and small entrepreneurs at the grass root level who will be encouraged to act as champions for biodiversity conversation and environmental protection in their enterprises and communities. 

The contribution of tourism to conservation is increasingly recognized by the international community. The Cancun Declaration on Mainstreaming the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity for Wellbeing was released on the occasion of COP 13, (the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity) held in Mexico last December. The Declaration recalls that “tourism is an excellent vehicle to use in spreading environmental awareness worldwide, not to mention the livelihood support it provides for communities living in and around reserves and natural areas” and recognises that tourism can be an enabling agent of change.

Through these training seminars, UNWTO continues its long-standing work in strengthening capacities of tourism stakeholders in gaining a better understanding of the relationship between tourism and environmental protection, developing tourism products based on the unique biodiversity in a destination and using tourism development as an incentive to invest in biodiversity conservation and environmental protection.