Milestones Covered

Despite slow progress recorded, much has been done to boost Cameroon’s tourism industry.

The Republic of Cameroon possesses one of the biggest potentials in Africa required for a viable, vibrant and appealing tourist destination. However, the tourism industry is yet to yield expected fruits and is contributing below three per cent to the Gross Domestic Product.

The most popular tourist sites are promoting eco-tourism, safari tourism, cultural tourism sports and leisure tourism, agro-tourism and business tourism. Lakes, waterfalls, caves, mountains, plantations, colonial structures, parks, forest reserves, national parks, conference centres, business centres, nightclubs, restaurants, beaches, cultural festivals could be counted in greater numbers and variety throughout the national triangle.

Information obtained from the Ministry of Tourism reveals that, with regards to the development and accessibility of sites, much work has been done. Cameroon posesses more than 344 tourist sites with more than a third developed by the State, individuals, local and foreign non-governmental organisations. The sites are managed and visited. In the village of Manaya, Lamidat of Rey Bouba, North Region, for example, the Ministry of Tourism has irrigated the waters of the river that passes nearby the site where 50 dinosaur traces aged more than 120 million years were found, to avoid their destruction. In addition, a facility has been prepared for scientific tourists who visit the area.

The tourism industry in Cameroon has suffered from poor transport networks featuring more than 50,000 km of rural and urban roads. Only 10 per cent of this is tarred. Most sites are accessible only during the dry season. However, the creation of the National Road Fund has established government’s intention to tar at least 1,000km more of roads before 2012 and thereafter tar at least 3,000km, every 10 years.

Concerning lodging facilities, private businesses and investors have built hotels, entertainment and conference facilities around towns like Douala, Yaounde, Kribi and Limbe, favouring more tourism activities. To ensure respect of international standards of safety and hygiene, the Ministry of Tourism started a series of administrative control exercises in 2005 to classify hotel institutions around the country into categories ranging from one to five stars.

Lastly, and despite the odds, the tourism industry continues to provide more jobs to Cameroonians as more investments are undertaken to promote the ailing sector. In 2008, the tourism industry employed 48,000 persons directly, that is, about 1,3 per cent of salaried workers. 132,000 other Cameronians were indirectly employed. In reaction to this, many private training institutions have continued training Cameroonians in tourism, hotel management and related disciplines. This adds to efforts by public institutions like the CEMAC Sub-regional School of Tourism and Hotel Management in Ngaoundere and some state universities now offering Tourism as a major undergraduate degree course.

The Government of Cameroon recently adopted a 12-point strategy to boost the tourism industry in Cameroon and raise it to the status of an international tourist destination.

George MBELLA