By Staff Reporter
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has pledged to support Zambia and Zimbabwe in growing the tourism sector.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Global Education summit at the ongoing United Nations World Tourism Organsiation (UNWTO) General Assembly in Samarkand, Uzberkistan, minister of Tourism Ahmed Alkhateeb said many African countries with greater tourism potential have not had the needed support.
Alkhateeb said international organizations that oversee tourism affairs in the world have their countries’ interest and thereby, disadvantaging the emerging countries with potential in African the Caribbeans and the Pacific Regions.
The minster appreciated Zambia and Zimbabwe’s efforts of developing the Victoria Falls as a shared resource between the two countries.
He said his country will hold UNWTO task force meeting on redesigning tourism for the future with the aim of strengthening the position of developing countries whose tourism development has been dwindling and help find ways of increasing tourist arrivals to those nontraditional tourism destinations.
Alkhateeb further pledged to provide support to the Wildlife summit to be held on the sidelines of the upcoming Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation (KAZA) Elephant summit.
And Zambia’s tourism minister Rodney Sikumba says many African tourism destinations need to be developed so that there is a level playing field.
Sikumba said Zambia has a lot of youths that can be trained not only for the local tourism sector, but also for export.
He said Zambia would like to have student and faculty exchange programs with Saudi Arabia to expose the players in tourism sector from the two countries.
The minister said Zambia has been a member of the UNWTO since 1975 and there was need for the country to be accorded a fair share on the tourism benefits that accrue from the global offing.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean minister of Tourism and Hospitality Barbra Rwodzi expressed concern that despite wildlife being the bigger component of tourism in Africa, the UNWTO has not given much attention to it.
The minister said there are issues of human wildlife conflict that continuously affect the KAZA region that need serious attention by the Global Tourism Community.
