The GIZ-UNESCO project on “Promoting Sustainable Tourism and Private Sector Engagement for inclusive Community Development in response to the Covid-19 crisis in Namibia” has commenced already and is expected to be completed by August 2022, tourism minister Pohamba Shifeta has said.
The project is jointly implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism, Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (MOEAC), National Heritage Council (NHC), Namibia Tourism Board (NTB), University of Namibia, Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), International University of Management (IUM) UNESCO, and GIZ for technical and financial support.
“The main purpose of this project is to address some of the immediate socio-economic impacts of COVID-19 on heritage tourism in Namibia in order to accelerate the tourism recovery process to protect livelihoods and transform the sector to become more resilient and inclusive,” Shifeta said.
The project will involve engaging the tourism private sector to create incentives to boost sustainable practices by providing necessary training interventions and capacity building for communities to benefit from the tourism value-chains.
“Furthermore, the project will invest in the preservation of our cultural heritage while creating short term job opportunities by utilizing culture and heritage as a source of resilience within the two UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the country, which are the Namib Sand Sea and Twyfelfontein,” Shifeta also said.
The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) in collaboration with other key stakeholders identified key interventions required to transform the tourism sector in response to the COVID-19 crisis, among others: managing the crisis and mitigating the socio-economic impacts on livelihoods; advancing innovation and the digitalization of the tourism ecosystem; fostering sustainable and inclusive green growth; and strengthening coordination, partnerships and solidarity for socio-economic recovery.