Sustainable Tourism Can Help Africa Utilize Natural Resources Well, Create Jobs, Official Says

The development of the sustainable tourism could help Africa preserve and "utilize well all natural resources," create jobs, Ethiopia's Tourism Ministry Advisor Muhammed Aman told Sputnik Africa.

"We have a huge variety [and] diversified natural resources. Really, if we develop sustainable tourism, we can have really preserved, utilize well all natural resources [...] It is a source of income, this source is an opportunity for job creation. In Africa, we have a huge manpower, which is young [people], so sustainable tourism also gives a chance to job creation, small micro enterprises at the local level," the official said.

Aman added that sustainable tourism could also contribute to the decrease of climate change, noting that at the same time the tourism sector in Africa is especially vulnerable to the climate change. Therefore, it "is very important to aware how to keep the resilience of tourism," he highlighted.

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Speaking about the ways to develop sustainable tourism on the continent, Aman underlined that an "innovative, really visionary" leader is needed for this sector.

"We have to develop really leaders for this sector. Innovative leader, really visionary, leader that can lead the change in this sector. The challenges, the vulnerability of the tourism sector is high, so the one who can lead, manage and reverse those issues [is needed], so tourism leadership is very important," the official emphasized.

To boost African sustainable tourism, it is also necessary to "empower the private sector," he noted.

"We have to build up, and even we have to initialize these private sector projects. The private sector has to lead," Aman stressed.

He went on to say that it is important as well to develop the inclusiveness system in this sector.

"Inclusiveness in this sector is very important [everybody] from young and every gender issues have to be treated because the sector has really capacity to address gender issue," the official underscored.

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Moreover, the advisor highlighted that "huge natural resources" of every country on the continent have "to be sustained."

"You have to have projects like community-based conservation projects [...], then we will sustain these diverse natural resources and sustain our tourism for the future," he noted.

During the second Russia-Africa Summit, which took place in July 2023, Russia agreed with several African countries to cancel visas and launch direct flights.

Commenting on how this partnership could help African countries promote sustainable tourism, Aman said that Russia-Africa cooperation in this sector "is to scale up the integration between two regions," it allows the two regions to exchange experience in conservation and utilization of natural resources.

"If destinations have really high visitors, they can maximize their economic benefits, because tourism activities need [many] activities that can be done by micro enterprises.[...] If they have benefits, they sustain, they conserve natural resources to the best of their benefits for economic activities. [...] So this is also very important, the cooperation of two regions," he added.