Prime Minister Philemon Yang on wednesday, January 4 in Yaounde chaired the eighth session of the National Tourism Board.
The government of Cameroon wants a new impetus to be injected into the tourism sector for it to effectively contribute in making Cameroon an emerging country. In this direction, Prime Minister Philemon Yang instructed all ministries concerned with the promotion and development of the tourism sector to prepare and submit to him quarterly reports on the progress of the sector and also translate recommendations into concrete projects. He chaired the eighth session of the National Tourism Board at the Star Building behind closed doors.
The Minister of State, Minister of Tourism and Leisure, Bello Bouba Maigari presented a talk on the theme, “Tourism and Local Development”. He illustrated to stakeholders of the sector the economic development and growth opportunities tourism activities have at the level of Councils and Regions. The Ministry of Tourism and Leisure is among the ministries devolving powers and accompanying resources to local Councils. The Tourism and Leisure boss said the sector is the most decentralised in management as it goes right down to the level of the local population and small-sized enterprises own by families. With the ongoing decentralisation process in the country, local councils have to take over from the central government in mobilising necessary resources to create jobs through tourism activities.
Cameroon, the Minister of State said, projects to receive at least one million tourists by 2020, increase the number of internal tourists and develop more tourism sites. Statistics from the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure indicate that Cameroon received a total of 604,052 tourists in 2011, registering an increase from 572,728 tourists in 2010. Government is working towards boosting the tourism sector. From Bello Bouba Maigari’s presentation, government in 2011, authorised the construction of 53 hotels with a capacity of 1005 rooms offering 1060 jobs; opening of 29 hotels with a capacity of 587 rooms; 27 restaurants and 15 recreational grounds with a capacity of 1720 places and generating 150 direct jobs. Government also authorised the opening of six tourism agencies and 10 tourism guides. The Minister of State indicated that the total investment injected by the private sector in the hotel and tourism sector stands at over FCFA 25, 942, 486,461, creating 2370 jobs.
