Geneva, 4 October 2010 - The UNCTAD TrainForTrade project for Angola is launching a new training cycle on sustainable tourism for development. It comprises training and technical assistance activities -- ranging from institutional support to enhance the national policy dialogues to a sector-wide study to identify opportunities and weaknesses in the tourism sector -- that will be carried out during the coming months.
Tourism-related development opportunities have been widely recognized at the national and the international level; if carried out in a truly sustainable way, tourism can generate material benefits and a sense of local ownership of economic development. Developing countries, particularly the least-developed, need to take advantages of the opportunities opened by this high-potential sector.
To support Angolan authorities in these efforts, the TrainForTrade project will collaborate with government authorities, civil society, and private-sector stakeholders. To this end, under the leadership of the National Steering Committee, a technical committee on sustainable tourism has been established to coordinate activities and guarantee overall coherence to the project.
To strengthen capacities at the level of the provinces, a seminar will be organized in Benguela starting at the end of October. It comprises two-distance learning sessions over a two-week period, to be followed by a face-to-face course. During the seminar, participants will have the opportunity to take part in a field visit to a site having tourism potential. They will work on a case study and suggest proper steps to ensure effective design and implementation of future projects, taking into account the sustainability criteria and the methodology learned during the seminar. Following the seminar, a national study will be conducted jointly by an international and a national expert to analyze the tourism potential in the province of Benguela. Specifically, the study will map the current tourism situation, identify existing activities, and assess their sustainability. The study also will identify potential partners and will suggest development paths that can foster innovative and sustainable tourism initiatives in the province.
In addition, the project will include a study tour to Mozambique for three Angolan officials working in the field of sustainable tourism at the national and the provincial levels. This will allow an exchange of best practices and cross-fertilization among the two countries. The study tour will take place during the first semester of 2011; it will be followed by a debriefing workshop with government officials and will include recommendations for improving sustainable tourism in Angola and Benguela Province.
About UNCTAD assistance
TrainForTrade, a programme of the Knowledge Sharing, Training and Capacity Building Branch, Division on Technology and Logistics, is UNCTAD´s leading initiative for training and capacity-building in the fields of international trade, trade-related services, investment, port management, and sustainable tourism. The TrainForTrade project for Angola aims at assisting the government in the implementation of locally owned national training and capacity-building activities in the field of international trade and investment. The project is funded by the European Commission and has duration of four years. In the field of tourism, the project has already organized a first seminar on "Sustainable Tourism for Development." That seminar was held in Luanda in November 2009.
