TURKISH TOURISM EXPERTS DATE ZAMBIA

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 08:52:31 +0000

By Sandra Machima

A FOUR-MEMBER delegation of tourism experts from Turkey is expected in Zambia for a week-long study tour of the local industry and possibly sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on co-operation in the tourism sector.

The study tour would be used to identify gaps in Zambia’s tourism sector to establish areas of co-operation in tourism development with Turkey and signing of MoU on co-operation that would include capacity-building for the Zambia Institute for Tourism and Hospitality Studies.

The delegation will come from Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Gazi University, faculty of tourism.

Zambian Embassy in Turkey  Charge’ d’Affaires Bwalya Nondo said the study tour by Turkish tourism experts was timely because it came at a time when Zambia needed technical support in developing a tourism master plan, which the country had embarked on.

Mr Nondo said the tourism master plan outlines an ambitious roadmap on how the Zambian government wanted to grow the tourism sector to contribute significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and overall economic development with attendant benefits.

He said Zambia was a tourism destination of choice because of its original natural attractions which include waterfalls, National Parks, Game Management Areas among others, which were complemented with a stable political climate.

“Because tourism has the potential to spur economic growth and development in general, we have to look to countries that have developed their tourism sector to the extent where it has grown to contribute so much to the economy and Turkey fits in that category,” Mr. Nondo said.

Mr Nondo said the Zambian government was promoting tourism and that it had placed the sector high on its development agenda given the sector’s potential to be an engine for economic development.

The study tour, had been sponsored by the Turkish Co-operation and Co-ordination Agency after an effort was made by the Zambian Mission in Turkey to support the development and growth of Zambia’s tourism sector to give added impetus to economic development.

And Turkish Co-operation and Co-ordination Agency department of Middle-East and Africa coordinator Sibel Saka said the delegation would develop a framework within which to develop Zambia’s tourism sector based on the findings of the study tour.

Ms Saka said the other objective of the study tour was to develop human resources by exploring into Zambia’s tourism education system.

“We are going to write a report which will yield concrete results not a report for the sake of writing a report but what we can do to change the potential of tourism in Zambia into reality,” Ms Saka said.

Ms Saka said “Gazi University will sign two agreements with the Zambia Institute for Tourism and Hospitality Studies on capacity-building and co-operation in the field of tourism under the Mevlana exchange programme, aimed at providing a platform for an exchange of students and academic staff between Turkish higher education institutions and Zambian higher education institutions.”