By Prince J Musa in Kenema
The Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Memunatu Pratt, has urged traditional authorities to step up their efforts in the promotion of domestic tourism in their respective chiefdoms and region across the country.
Pratt was addressing stakeholders in the Eastern district of Kenema last week. She said the engagement was about finding ways to promote local tourism and ensure it contributes to the livelihood of rural people.
"The ministry want to change the lives of people in this country through tourism. We want to transform the lives of Sierra Leoneans by encouraging our people to go back to cultural activities that will attract tourists to invest in the country,” she said.
"Our focus is to make tourism more economically viable to Sierra Leoneans. We were the best touristic destination in the 1990s, but we lost our glory because much attention was not given to the tourism industry. But we have decided to bring back tourism as a source of income for our people and to the state," she added.
The Chairman of the National Tourist Board, Tamba Allieu Kokobay, said during the event: "This time we have decided that tourism will replace diamond and gold as another meaningful natural resource for our country.”
"Eastern region has the highest touristic attraction zones but our people need more education to see the usefulness of our region," Kokobay added.
Deputy Mayor of Kenema City, Esther Kaisamba, said the government should consider reviving a number of things to boost tourism in the region. She said decentralization of some functions from the ministry is also key.
"For government to make tourism as a source of income and investment, government should decentralize some of the functions of the Ministry of Tourism at rural level and involve councils and paramount chiefs" she said.
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