Sophie Tendane
The executive director in the Ministry of Environment, Forestryand Tourism, Teofilus Nghitila, said young people have a key role to play in reviving the tourism sector.
Nghitila was speaking during the fourth edition of the
Africa Youth in Tourism Innovation Summit and Challenge in Windhoek recently.
"Let us as a government, private sector and
stakeholders do our utmost to enable the youth to be agents of change and
recovery for the sector, and to be strong advocates for sustainable
tourism," he said.
Nghitila said they must leverage strong global partnerships
to fully empower the youth in tourism.
"We must facilitate financial support towards youth-led
small business enterprises and support them to drive the tourism sector
forward, particularly in the area of digital technology which is changing the
way in which the tourist interacts with and experiences the destinations,"
he said.
Nghitila said there is a need to embrace the positive change
and capitalise on it.
"I would like to encourage the African youth to build
networks and initiate productive business relations, partnerships and make
economic linkages that will lead to the formation of viable enterprises in the
travel and tourism value chain across Africa," he said.
Nghitila said tourism is an industry that is dynamic and
continuously evolving, with lots of emerging opportunities in the digital
social space.
United Nations resident coordinator Sen Pang said the
Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on the tourism sector.
"It has painfully exposed the social-economic fault
lines of the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
The closure of borders and the absence of international and
national tourists have had a major impact on the economies of all
countries," he said.
Peng said the summit was established to nurture Africa's
youth, start-ups, small enterprises and accelerator initiatives to pursue
opportunities across global tourism.
"Young people are a major human resource for
development and key agents for social change, economic growth and technological
innovation.
"Africa has a unique opportunity to invest in its young
human capital and reap the potential social and economic benefits," he
said.
Peng said this is the right time to engage with the youth to
contribute to the acceleration of the economic recovery and rebuild a robust
tourism industry that is resilient and sustainable.
"With these words I would like to reaffirm the
commitment of the United Nations system in Namibia to continue evidence-based
advocacy, policy engagement, partnership and programme initiatives to develop
and empower youth and innovative entrepreneurship solutions for inclusive
tourism in Namibia," he said.
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