‘Fear will not distract our vision’

01 May, 2016 - 00:05 0 Views
‘Fear will not distract our vision’ Min. W. Mzembi

The Sunday Mail

Dr Walter Mzembi
Tourism stakeholders, among them African policy-makers, were in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire from April 19 to 21, 2016 for the 58th Meeting of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation Commission for Africa and the Sustainable Tourism Conference and Symposium on Accelerating the Shift towards Sustainable Consumption and Production Pattern.
Below is Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister and UNWTO African Commission Chair Dr Walter Mzembi’s address to the gathering.
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I wish to extend my profound appreciation to the Government of Cote d’Ivoire and its people for their warm hospitality extended to us thus far.

The warm hearts of the people of Cote d’Ivoire, and the beauty characterising the capital city of Abidjan are indeed reinvigorating.
I also want to pass my deepest condolences to the Government of Cote d’Ivoire on the sad loss of lives due to the horrendous and unjustified terrorist attacks that took place at Grand-Bassam Resort Hotels. We stand solidly in support of your efforts to ensure peace and security for this important destination.

As the Commission for Africa, we take it that an attack on one African destination means an attack to all of us, and hence notwithstanding what happened here, our collective presence and decision to proceed with the meeting in Abidjan.

Fear, which terror is merchandising, will not distract our vision on the pursuit of happiness which travel and tourism epitomises.
I am further delighted that the Secretary General, Dr Taleb Rifai, is leading in raising the profile of tourism to the extent that 2017 has been designated the “International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development”.

Congratulations!
This is a huge achievement and history will be written over this lifetime opportunity for us to engage global leaders at the highest level in the framework of the United Nations General Assembly to debate issues related to tourism.

I, therefore, urge member states to establish national working groups to prepare for 2017 and raise awareness on the critical issues in this sector for a serious conversation next year.

What comes to mind almost immediately are Sustainable Development Goals 8, 12 and 14 and how we align them to the discourse.

Your Excellencies, you will recall that in January 2016, I reported to some of you in Madrid on my African Union assignment, and my subsequent invitation to the AU’s Ministerial Retreat and Heads of State and Government Summit where I presented on African Tourism potential and wildlife conservation for mainstreaming into Agenda 2063 where it was evidently missing.

Our proposals were welcomed, and indeed, the AU has embraced absolutely all our suggestions even adding some that had escaped our attention like the launch of a “Visit Africa Campaign”.

To this end, the AU has since adopted a position to come up with a Continental Tourism Policy to which I invite you to make an input.

Our efforts have added impetus on the reform process at the AU and have started to bear fruits.
African leaders will start using an African passport from July this year, following the adoption of a proposal by Heads of State and Government in January 2016 to have all African countries allow a 30-day visa-free stay for Africans.

The introduction of the African passport will pave the way for the AU’s Agenda 2063 for “a continent with seamless borders” to help facilitate the free movement of African citizens.

It also aims to improve intra-African trade and to ease the movement of domestic goods between and among member states.
We need to push the frontiers further and urge the AU to quickly move to indicate when the African passport will be available to ordinary nationals of all member countries to ensure that our dream of seamless travel becomes a reality.

Coupled with this is our clarion call for an African visa so that we eliminate barriers in travel business.
Excellencies, allow me to, in the same perspective, congratulate Rwanda and Ghana for taking practical steps to our clarion call in facilitating travel among African nationals.

Rwanda now allows nationals of all African countries travelling to or transiting through that country to obtain an entry visa upon arrival. Ghana announced during commemoration of her 59th year of independence the introduction of a visa-on-arrival, which allows citizens of AU member states with stays for up to 30 days.

On the back of these positive developments, we have placed before the AU a cocktail of tourism proposals that include among others:
◆ A Continental Tourism Policy
◆ Visit Africa Campaign
◆ Brand Africa
◆ Structurally institutionalise tourism at the AU (Commission/substantive Directorate on Tourism, Biodiversity and Aviation)
◆ Build strong Regional Tourism Blocs
◆ Campaign for the adoption and use of the African Passport
◆ A common African visa regime
◆ Accelerated implementation of the Yamoussoukro Declaration of 1998
◆ Minimalistic support to tourism (1-5 percent of the total national budget).

Excellencies, I have just come from WTTC 16th Global Summit held from 5-7 April 2016 in Dallas Texas.
Peace and security in our destinations was topical.

My conclusion from the discussions was that we need to be alert to security issues in order for tourism to thrive.
The next Executive Council should, therefore, conclude the consummation of a Working Group on Tourism and Security, and feedback to member states as soon as possible.

While we have in the recent past witnessed isolated cases of terror attacks on human life in resorts, restaurants and hotels, Africa suffers more from the scourge of biodiversity terrorism.

Our pristine flora and fauna, which constitutes over 80 percent of our product base, has been under serious attack, depletion and degradation, which in itself poses a huge threat to our attractiveness.

We have had other insecurities such as communicable diseases that have had the net negative impact of undermining Brand Africa. I call upon member states to debate these issues, and for this meeting to discuss what we can do together with support from various international partners to resolve these challenges.

Certainly, we need to harness international goodwill in supporting our initiatives towards sustainable management and conservation of our biodiversity on both seascapes and landscapes without losing focus on the current debate on terrorism threats to our sector.

May I make an appeal going forward for heightened efforts towards universal membership to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation by UN member states as it is increasingly becoming clear that all of these countries have tourism economies and that by collectively looking at the challenges of our contemporary times, security included, we have a better chance of resolving them.

UNWTO, in partnership with other co-operating partners, has the capacity and ability to champion peace-building and fostering social harmony, including prescribing crisis management solutions and compelling peer review mechanisms in the application of Article 6 of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.

Climate change is impacting Africa negatively.
El Nino-induced droughts have become more frequent, making our communities vulnerable.

Energy supply has plummeted to record low, yet our sector is a significant consumer of energy in powering establishments. Apart from energy deficits, you recall that we celebrated World Tourism Day under the theme: Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future.

It is now apparent that we have a crisis in this aspect which extends itself to food insecurity to a point where it is undermining our Community-Based Tourism Enterprises as part of the supply management chain into the industry.

Excellencies, I propose that we conceive climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies in the tourism industry and I suggest that we create a working group that works on this.

Excellencies, Africa is the new global opportunity characterised by a new sense of resource nationalism that emphasises industrialisation, value addition and beneficiation.

In this new thrust, tourism will play a critical role in the Visit-Trade-Invest Value chain.
In the recent past, we have noticed a huge surge in business reconnaissance missions into Africa (individual, group and institutional) which should prompt us to review the role of Tourism Ministers going beyond just being merchandisers of destinations to business brokers given our frontline role.

This calls for a paradigm shift in repositioning the tourism industry as a new frontier for transformation towards the “Africa We Want” as aptly captured by Agenda 2063, which requires a paradigm shift and a new way of doing business in this great continent.

Thank you.

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