SESRIC organised a commemoration ceremony for Dakar as the selected OIC City of Tourism for 2025 on the sidelines of the Africa Food Systems (AFS) Forum Summit, held in Dakar on 31 August-5 September 2025.

The celebration comes in line with the relevant resolutions of the 12^th Session of the Islamic Conference of Tourism Ministers, held in Khiva, Republic of Uzbekistan in June 2024, which selected Dakar as the OIC City of Tourism for the year 2025. This decision recognises Dakar’s rich cultural heritage, its vibrant culinary scene and its long-standing role as a meeting point for African and Islamic civilizations.

The Ceremony featured opening remarks by H.E. Zehra Zümrüt SELÇUK, representatives of COMCEC, COMIAC, Mayor of Dakar, Senegalese Agency for Tourism Promotion (ASPT) and the Honourable Minister of Tourism and Handicrafts of Senegal, H.E. Mountaga DIAO, in addition to the message of the Secretary General of the OIC, H.E. Hissein Brahim TAHA.

The commemoration ceremony continued with the opening of the Workshop on “Enhancing the Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Gastronomy Tourism in Senegal” within the framework of SESRIC Project on “Promoting Gastronomy Tourism for the Destination Senegal”, funded under the 12^th Call of the COMCEC for Project Proposals.

In her remarks, H.E. SELÇUK congratulated the Republic of Senegal on this unique occasion and underscored that this designation is a recognition of the country’s cultural wealth and a call to action for all stakeholders. Furthermore, she stated that according to recent market analyses, the global gastronomy/ food tourism sector was valued at around 962 billion US dollars in 2024 and it is expected to reach around 1.1 trillion US dollars in 2025, rising to approximately 4.7 trillion US dollars by 2034. This data illustrates the large scale of the potential market if intra-OIC cooperation and connectivity was strengthened, she added.

The message of the Secretary General of the OIC, H.E. Hissein Brahim TAHA highlighted the objective of establishing this OIC award to bring to the fore the growing importance of tourism and tourism-related sectors in the cooperation framework of the Organisation, with particular emphasis on the need to invest in the Halal Tourism subsector. The message also stressed that this initiative brings enormous benefits to the selected city in socio-economic terms, and provides unique opportunities to regenerate the city, enhance its image and make it better known at OIC and international scale.

A culinary show hosted by the Esteemed Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts as well as ASPT followed the opening remarks showcasing a variety of local Senegalese dishes prepared by competent chefs. Around 100 participants, including Senegalese officials and stakeholders working in the tourism sector, attended the commemoration ceremony and opening of the three-day workshop, which continued its technical sessions raising awareness on mechanisms to enhance PPPs for sustainable development of the domain.

For more information about the workshop, please visit: https://www.sesric.org/event-detail.php?id=3530.

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