Transforming tourism post Covid
Tourism stakeholders have identified key interventions required to transform the sector in response to the Covd-19 pandemic.
These include managing the crisis and mitigating its socio-economic impacts on livelihoods; advancing innovation and the digitalisation of the tourism ecosystem; fostering sustainable and inclusive green growth, and strengthening coordination, partnerships and solidarity for socio-economic recovery.
This according to tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta, who was speaking at the launch of the ‘Promoting Sustainable Tourism and Private Sector Engagement for Inclusive Community Development in Response to the Covid-19 Crisis’ project.
The tourism and education, arts and culture ministries launched the project in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), with funding from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
According to Shifeta, the main purpose of the project is to address some of the immediate socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 on heritage tourism in Namibia to accelerate the tourism recovery process, protect livelihoods and transform the sector into one that is more resilient and inclusive.
“The project will involve engaging the tourism private sector to create incentives to boost sustainable practices by providing necessary training interventions and capacity-building for communities to benefit from the tourism value-chains,” he said.
Furthermore, it will invest in the preservation of Namibia’s cultural heritage while creating short-term job opportunities by utilising culture and heritage as a source of resilience within the two Unesco World Heritage Sites in the country – the Namib Sand Sea and Twyfelfontein, Shifeta said.
More strategic approach
Overall, the project will lay the foundation for a more strategic approach to promote sustainable tourism at World Heritage destinations while supporting the social and cultural cohesion of surrounding communities, he said.
It also aims to enhance training and capacity-building for community-level tourist guiding and craft-making sectors, with a particular focus on women through the development of micro-accreditation schemes.
“The project further aims to involve young women and men at community level as direct beneficiaries of the activities to the maximum extent possible and within culturally sensitive considerations - a gender responsive approach with the participation of women at all levels of design, implementation and evaluation,” Shifeta said.
The implementation plan of the project has commenced already and is expected to be completed by August.
These include managing the crisis and mitigating its socio-economic impacts on livelihoods; advancing innovation and the digitalisation of the tourism ecosystem; fostering sustainable and inclusive green growth, and strengthening coordination, partnerships and solidarity for socio-economic recovery.
This according to tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta, who was speaking at the launch of the ‘Promoting Sustainable Tourism and Private Sector Engagement for Inclusive Community Development in Response to the Covid-19 Crisis’ project.
The tourism and education, arts and culture ministries launched the project in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), with funding from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit.
According to Shifeta, the main purpose of the project is to address some of the immediate socio-economic impacts of Covid-19 on heritage tourism in Namibia to accelerate the tourism recovery process, protect livelihoods and transform the sector into one that is more resilient and inclusive.
“The project will involve engaging the tourism private sector to create incentives to boost sustainable practices by providing necessary training interventions and capacity-building for communities to benefit from the tourism value-chains,” he said.
Furthermore, it will invest in the preservation of Namibia’s cultural heritage while creating short-term job opportunities by utilising culture and heritage as a source of resilience within the two Unesco World Heritage Sites in the country – the Namib Sand Sea and Twyfelfontein, Shifeta said.
More strategic approach
Overall, the project will lay the foundation for a more strategic approach to promote sustainable tourism at World Heritage destinations while supporting the social and cultural cohesion of surrounding communities, he said.
It also aims to enhance training and capacity-building for community-level tourist guiding and craft-making sectors, with a particular focus on women through the development of micro-accreditation schemes.
“The project further aims to involve young women and men at community level as direct beneficiaries of the activities to the maximum extent possible and within culturally sensitive considerations - a gender responsive approach with the participation of women at all levels of design, implementation and evaluation,” Shifeta said.
The implementation plan of the project has commenced already and is expected to be completed by August.
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