World Tourism Day: Tourism & Inclusive Growth in Achieving SDGs : United Nations Resident Coordinator Babatunde A. Ahonsi (PhD) Keynote Address

World Tourism Day: Tourism & Inclusive Growth in Achieving SDGs

United Nations Resident Coordinator Babatunde A. Ahonsi (PhD)

Keynote Address | Monday, 27 September 2021

Brookfield’s Hotel, New England, Freetown

Honourable Chief Minister, Mr Jacob Jusu Saffa,

Honourable Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Madam Memunatu Pratt

Heads of Governmental Agencies and Senior Government Officials,

Colleagues from the Development Community,

Private Sector Executives,

Civil Society Leaders,

Friends from the Media,

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

Our world today is facing unprecedented challenges.  From the continued negative impacts of COVID-19 to the warming of our planet that may incur irreversible changes to our environment and societies. We have nine years left in achieving the global commitment we made—the Sustainable Development Goals aimed to bring peace and prosperity to all people by 2030.

Ladies and gentlemen, in my estimation, today's gathering aimed at observing World Tourism Day with the theme "Tourism & Inclusive Growth in achieving the SDGs" could not have come at a better time. As we commemorate World Tourism Day, we recognize the value and potential of tourism to advance prosperity and drive inclusive, sustainable development. We also recognize that the tourism sector cuts across almost every part of our economies and societies. It enables people from all walks to life, including those at risk of being left behind to benefit from development that is local and direct.

The tourism sector has great potential in accelerating progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It contributes directly to three SDGs-- SDG 14 ‘Life below water; SDG 8 “Decent Work and Employment, and SDG 12 “Responsible consumption and Production”. It also directly impacts the achievement of all the other Goals, including, eradicating poverty, advancing gender equality and protecting the environment SDGs 1, 5 and 12 respectively.

Tourism as you know plays an important role in stimulating the economic growth of a nation. It provides job opportunities and foreign exchange, enhances technology, produces return on investment, especially for emerging countries, and improves the living standards of a nation. The tourism sector also serves as an important catalyst for improving livelihoods and quality of life.

The United Nations in Sierra Leone, through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, aligned to the Medium-Term National Development Plan, 2019-2023 and anchored in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, has committed its support towards the acceleration of economic development for the benefit of all, including those in the tourism sector. Over the years, UNDP, for example, has supported youth groups through the National Tourist Board (NTB) to engage in beach cleaning, especially around Western Area. Recently, the Ministry of Tourism was also supported to build the capacity of 200 women living along the coastal areas in business management and start-up equipment to expand their businesses and improve their livelihoods.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To build back better from the effects of COVID-19 which triggered a 95 percent decrease of international tourist arrivals globally in the first month of this year, we have to rethink, transform, and safely rebuild tourism. For a sector that globally employs one in every ten people and in Africa represented about 10 percent of all exports in 2019, the massive disruption of tourism activities for the past two years has meant for the continent the loss of jobs and incomes for millions of people especially women who predominate as employees in the tourism sector. For Sierra Leone, these impacts threaten to worsen poverty and inequality and reverse efforts to leverage the country’s abundant natural and cultural endowments for developing domestic and international tourism as drivers of economic growth. 

The foregoing explains why the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, in August 2020 issued a Policy Brief on Covid-19 and Transforming Tourism. In it, he put forward a roadmap to radically rebuild tourism so as to accelerate the achievement of sustainable development. As we reopen our doors to tourists, we have an opportunity to reshape tourism to be more sustainable, environmentally friendly, and accessible to all.

As we all may know, expanding the tourism sector will increase pressure on our natural biodiversity and the ecosystems on which the livelihoods of so many people and local communities depend. This means that as we move forward, we have to make targeted actions and investments towards providing decent jobs, and build a resilient, sustainable, gender-equal, inclusive tourism sector for the benefit of all.

At this point, let us reflect on five priority areas identified in the UN Secretary General’s Policy Brief that we may adapt to the Sierra Leonean context to advance sustainable tourism in the short-to-medium term.

1. Protection of tourism-related livelihoods, including those of women and other vulnerable groups; Here Sierra Leone may want to focus on enhancement of safety and security in the tourism sector and accelerate progress in Covid-19 control through boosting Covid vaccination uptake to a level much higher than the current African average of three percent. This will help attract back international tourists especially from the diaspora and ECOWAS sub-region.
2. Boost competitiveness and investments of the tourism sector; Here, the focus may be on structuring more of the special economic recovery measures towards local MSMEs in the handicrafts and cultural products and services sector as well as the promotion of domestic tourism.
3. Advance innovation and digitalization; Here, significant returns may stand to be reaped from strengthening the promotion of digital marketing and re-branding of Sierra Leone through strategic deployment of the data from a government-led national survey of all touristic assets and facilities across the country and maintenance of a vibrant tourism website and information centre.
4. Fostering of inclusive green growth; Here, for example, government support and private investment could target protected areas and tourism operators that utilize nature-positive practices in their operations in ways that boost their earnings and protect the environment; and;
5. Enhanced, targeted partnerships that foster knowledge exchange and cooperation; Here, the forging of strong public-private partnerships and coordination platforms (involving government, development partners, financial institutions, and business) in the tourism and culture sector would likely facilitate the advancement of recovery efforts that ensure balance between social, economic and environmental sustainability. 

Let me, therefore, end my address by calling on the Government and development partners, and the private sector to collaborate to enhance sustainable tourism to boost the nation's economy. Together, we can transform tourism to fulfil its potential as an engine for prosperity, a vehicle for integration, a means to protect our planet and biodiversity, and an agent of cultural understanding between peoples, while delivering on the promise of the SDGs.

But we have so much to do judging by Sierra Leone’s ranking at 140 and scoring 2.8 out of a maximum of seven in the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index.

The time for action is now!

I thank you.