Angolan minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment, Adjany Costa, on Saturday stressed the need to look to the tourism as a window on the rural world.
The minister was speaking ahead of celebration of World Tourism Day, adding that the sector can, to a certain extent, contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, with focus on combating hunger, extreme poverty, rural exodus and regional asymmetries.
To Adjany Costa, the valences of fauna and flora, the cultural values of the people are assets that can be used in favour of the development of rural communities in Angola.
However, she defended the need to review tourist policies to enhance the territories rural areas in all their dimensions, placing them at the center of development.
“When quite well explored, with effective strategies, National Tourism can indeed be a great force (alternative to agriculture) to leverage the rural economy”, defended the minister.
According to the minister, due to the fact that rural communities are unprepared to deal with the demands of tourism and with some negative impacts that may arise from it, due to several factors, among them their ways of life, very low income levels and digital illiteracy, they need help to survive and preserve heritage.
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Despite the difficulties imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Adjany Costa adds that the Government looks to the future with optimism and hope.
The reopening, with security to the tourist activity, will only be possible with the engagement of all (public and private agents, social partners and natural persons).
She reiterated the need to create opportunities outside large urban centers and to preserve cultural and natural heritage in order to put tourism at the service of rural development.
The minister also said that the affirmation of Angola as a tourist destination, lacks the (re) definition of a clear, realistic and congregating strategy, with micro-actions that generate macro results, through internal partnerships.
World Tourism Day was instituted during the 3rd Session of the General Assembly of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) in Terramolinos, Spain, in September 1979.
But the celebration of the date began only on 27 September 1980.
Source: Angop
