Seminar on promoting tourism, 1-5 November, Dakar (Senegal)
Geneva, 1 November 2010 -- Senegal, already a very popular tourist destination, especially with European tourists, could capture new market opportunities by stepping up its Web-based tourism services, making greater use of information and communications technology (ICT).
How to raise Senegal´s profile as a tourist destination will be discussed at an UNCTAD seminar on promoting tourism from 1 to 5 November in Dakar, in conjunction with the Ministry of Crafts, Tourism and Relations with the Private Sector and Informal Sector. The seminar is one of the components of UNCTAD´s subregional training programme in West Africa.
Despite playing an important role in Senegal´s economy, the tourism sector is fragile, not least because visitors make short trips and tend to favour Senegal´s Atlantic coast. Participants at the seminar will draw up an action plan for managing and promoting tourism. To help public and private stakeholders, UNCTAD will present ICT tools, including free software - developed by UNCTAD experts - that could serve as the core components of an electronic tourism platform.
The tourism sector has everything to gain by using ICT and the Internet: better positioning, promotion and marketing of Senegal as a tourist destination on the international market; the development of public and private partnerships; and the creation of new products and services.
The seminar, which is the sixth of its kind to be held in the region, will feature lively, interactive debate and will look at both theoretical and practical aspects (discussion; case studies on subjects such as raising a tourist destination´s Web profile, or digital fingerprinting; exchange of good practices; simulations and practical exercises). A second workshop, more technical in nature, will be held in the next few months to follow up this training.
UNCTAD launched its e-tourism programme in 2004 to help least developed countries take responsibility for promoting their own tourism services using ICT.
