Within the framework of its Tourism Capacity Building Programme (Tourism-CaB), SESRIC organised a Training Course on “Effective Strategic Planning for the Promotion of Sustainable Tourism Development” on 24-26 August 2021 through an online video conferencing platform.

The training course was provided by a competent expert from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Arts of the Republic of Benin for the benefit of 36 participants from the National Tourism Authorities of 13 OIC member countries.

The main objective of the training course was to strengthen the technical capacities of the participants in developing strategic planning for the advancement of the tourism sector in their respective countries. The course also provided insights into various subjects, including the concepts and implications of sustainable tourism development, the approach, method and tools used in elaborating effective strategic planning for sustainable tourism development at the national and local levels.

The training course commenced with the opening statement by H.E. Mr. Nebil DABUR, Director General of SESRIC, who stressed the importance of this training with a view to supporting the efforts of OIC member countries towards enhancing the capacities of their national tourism authorities during this critical time of global crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With regard to the pre-pandemic period, H.E. Mr. DABUR noted that international tourism had become one of the main economic activities and an important source of foreign exchange earnings, economic growth and employment in many countries, including the OIC member countries. However, he added that, since the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent health requirements and restriction measures all over the world, tourism activities have come almost to a complete stop. In this context, he emphasized that it is essential for all tourism stakeholders to learn useful lessons from this unprecedented and unfortunate situation to be used while restoring the damaged touristic spots and designing effective strategies for making all potential types of tourism more sustainable during the recovery period and beyond.

Delivering the opening remarks on behalf of H.E. Mr. Adébayo Aristide ADJIBODOU, Secretary General of the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Arts of the Republic of Benin, Mr. Didier O.H. CAPO-CHICHI, Director of Programming and Perspective Department, highlighted some effects of the pandemic on tourism as well as the environmental impact of conventional tourism and underlined the importance of promoting sustainable tourism in developing countries particularly in the OIC member countries. In his conclusion, he expressed his gratitude to SESRIC for this opportunity and invited participants to capitalize on this capacity-building opportunity and exchange of experience.

This training course was designed in line with the virtual training solutions undertaken by SESRIC to better serve the Centre’s training activities and keep participants motivated and engaged during this challenging time of global crisis due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Presentations:

• MODULE 1  (French)
• MODULE 2  (French)
• MODULE 3  (French)

Photos