Luanda – Angolan minister of Culture, Tourism and Environment Jomo Fortunato Monday in Luanda highlighted the importance of training the staff in the area of tourism and provide tourist guides with relevant information about the country’s peoples, culture and history.
Jomo Fortunato was speaking ahead of the World Tourism Day, celebrated Monday, having acknowledged the deficit in the training area.
But he assured that the Executive will continue to invest in pedagogical training actions to help boost the sector, both internally and externally.
According to the minister, the country has hotel units that can be turned into tourism pedagogical training schools.
“It is necessary to continue providing the young people with training. Tourism is crucial for development of the country and youth”, he concluded.
Jomo Fortunato said that the sector plans to launch, soon, a project on the tourist route for museums in Luanda, which will combine cultural and natural beauties.
The project, he said, will be organised with the support of several hotels, with stress to those units based in Luanda city.
"It is up to the tourism sector to launch actions aimed at creating infrastructure and promoting tourism. In this project, our history and culture will be our attraction," he stressed.
The minister reiterated his commitment to the tourism industry, in terms of promoting the activity and its sustainable and inclusive development, with a view to benefiting all stakeholders, ranging from large multinational companies to small operators.
In the minister's view, the pandemic was a blow to international tourism. He described the pandemic as a worst crisis in the history of tourism and which caused 86 percent drop in international revenues.
As is the case around the world, Angola, according to the minister, also suffers the negative impact caused by the pandemic, with many companies having halted their activities.
Jomo Fortunato added that the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment has made efforts to recovery the tourist activity with financial support for companies, reduction of the tax burden and maintenance or recovery of jobs.
