September 27, 2020
Tourism key to economic development
Nelly Botha-Copperbelt Province Minister Japhen Mwakalombe says tourism is one of the key sectors that will help the country recover from the economic losses that have been caused by COVID 19 pandemic.
Mr Mwakalombe said sites like the Dag Hammarskjold memorial and the up coming Copperbelt International airport among others have the potential to lift Zambia’s economy especially now when the world has been hit with the COVID 19 pandemic.
The Minister said this during the 40th world tourism day celebration held at Dag Hammarskjold memorial site in Ndola today.
He added that the world tourism day has come at a time when most counties are at a critical moment of opening up their economies following the global impact of the pandemic.
“countries around are looking up to tourism to drive recovery including rural communities where the sector is s leading employer and an economic pillar” he said.
Meanwhile the Minister has challenged the members of the community to consider venturing into income generating activities that will leverage the Dag Hammarskjold memorial site and increase the revenue base.
Mr. Mwakalombe said generating activities at the crash site such as village tourism, art and crafts industry among others will not only help raise revenue in country but at personal level also.
He expressed happiness that the Dag Hammarskjold community has already embarked on a bee keeping program which will help promote the tourism sector once tourists visit and buy some of the products at the site.
“It is my hope that through this bee keeping training the community will be empowered and the site will complement the communities efforts by providing an opportunity to sell the bee keeping products to would be tourists,” he said.
The Minister said the community around Dag Hammarskjold area has an opportunity to draw significant benefits from the site through various tourists they can leverage on.
“It is anticipated that with the opening of the Copperbelt International airport the site will see an increased volume of both local and international tourists visiting the site, “he said.
National Heritage Conservation Commission (NHCC) northern region senior conservation officer Michael Nangalelwa said the day fosters awareness on the importance of tourism and it’s social cultural, political and economic values of the country.
Mr Nangalelwa said Copperbelt has a total of 275 heritage sites of which 251 are cultural and 24 are natural while nine are declared as national monuments.
He said tourism is an economic sector with huge potential and remained one of the cornerstone for the economic diversification in the province which had been a mining sector.
This years world Tourism day is being commemorated under the theme ‘ Tourism and Rural Development’.
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