By Mabinty M. Kamara
President Julius Maada Bio has highlighted progress his government has made in revamping the tourism industry in Sierra Leone, in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
He was speaking at the launch of a bailout package for the hospitality sector.
“Various speakers have bemoaned the loss of revenue, loss of jobs, the virtual standstill in the tourism sector, and all the sundry frustrations and associated fears since COVID struck. There is general unease that we are on a slippery slope to probably never recovering that sector for as long as COVID 19 persists. For those persons, the glass is half empty and emptying fast,” he said.
He added: “This morning, I would rather take a contrary view and talk about the glass being half full. We are making progress. We have made great progress in just two years. We are making that progress because we believe that this sector is critical to our development as a nation. This is why we are here today to support that sector.”
The bailout package for the hospitality sector, with an amount of Le4, 883, 840, 000 (Four billion, Eight hundred and eighty-three million Leones), Eight hundred and forty thousand Leones, dubbed the Social Safety Net Wage Bill, is meant to support employees in the hospitality industry who were the most affected by the effect of the pandemic.
The programme entails payment of salaries of all employees working registered institutions in the sector for three months.
President Bio called on members of his government to challenge themselves to build upon the optimism that they expressed in their New Direction manifesto of making tourism a key growth sector of the country’s economy, noting that showcasing the great beauty and heritage of Sierra Leone could create jobs and get attract revenue.
“We argued that we could do so by improving the policy and legal environment, developing tourism sites and products, developing tourism infrastructure, improving, promoting, and marketing our country’s unique image as a safe site for great tourism experience, developing skills that serve the tourism sector, and diversifying our tourism products,” the president added.
Bio went on to recount strides and successes made in the tourism sector over the past two years of his reign. He said that the National Tourism Census conducted by the Ministry of Tourism and Statistics Sierra Leone has, for the first time ever, given them access to comprehensive data on the sector. He highlighted developments in the sector such as marketing and promotional campaigns through participation in international trade fairs, exhibitions, and expanded digital marketing.
Bio also drew attention to other events including the arrival of the 300 Danish tourists; the cross-border, Budapest-Bamako Rally that brought over 700 participants into the country, and the incoming of African-Americans to trace their ancestral roots to Sierra Leone.
“Tourist arrivals surged up by 40% to 107,000 arrivals and tourists spent an estimated US$63 million in the Sierra Leone economy. Bed capacity and occupancy increased with new tourism facilities and the Lumley Beach stretch has been developed by locals, creating thousands of jobs for Sierra Leoneans. There is also increased domestic tourism and increased interest in domestic tourist sites from waterfalls to islands and nature reserves and habitats. Recently, the Mambo Waterfalls has become a site of fascination and recreation. So when I say the glass is half full, I want us to celebrate the great successes we have had in just two short years,” Bio said
Speaking at the event, Minister of Tourism, Memunatu Pratt, noted that it was evident globally that the tourism and the hospitality industry was the worst hit by the Coronavirus pandemic, amidst the grounding of flights, closure of hotels and tourism facilities, job losses and a significant decrease in national revenues.
She applauded President Bio for his consideration of the hospitality and tourism industry in cushioning the economic impact of COVID-19, noting that rigorous measures were taken to collate the necessary data of the targeted beneficiaries.
“In spite of the negative impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the tourism sector being the hardest hit, the President has taken a significant step to support our people in the tourism sector with social safety net program to get through these extremely tough times. We are also continuing with the necessary planning to ensure that our tourism industry can recover as quickly as possible and continue to be a major contributor in revenue generation and job creation,” he said.
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