Zimbabwe and Malawi yesterday concluded the Third Joint Tourism Technical Committee (JTTC) assembly meant to evaluate progress on the areas of cooperation agreed to by the 2 governments.
The assembly was held in Lilongwe, Malawi from Wednesday and ended yesterday.
It was co-chaired by the everlasting secretary for Atmosphere, Local weather, Tourism and Hospitality Business Ambassador Raphael Faranisi and Mr Chauncy Simwaka, the Secretary for Tourism, Tradition and Wildlife in Malawi.
The target of the assembly was to evaluation progress on the implementation of the agreed areas of cooperation from the second JTTC assembly held in Zimbabwe in 2019.
The areas of cooperation are derived from the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation within the Discipline of Tourism, which was signed by the 2 governments in April 2015.
The JTTC is a platform to facilitate the trade of experiences, experience and concepts to help and deepen tourism cooperation between the 2 international locations. In his remarks, Ambassador Faranisi stated the implementation of the Nationwide Tourism Restoration and Progress Technique launched by
President Mnangagwa, units the tempo for sustainable tourism development and resilience constructing for the sector.
The tourism technique additionally outlines methods meant to cushion the tourism gamers towards the affect of the devastating Covid-19 pandemic.
Optimistic developments have been famous for the reason that gradual reopening of worldwide borders and territories as evidenced by a rise in vacationer arrivals in Zimbabwe within the second half of this 12 months.
The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) has designated the World Tourism Day 2022 theme as, “Rethinking Tourism”.
As such, the JTTC assembly supplied a platform for each international locations to affix palms in rebuilding their tourism industries post-Covid-19.
The JTTC explored a variety of agreed tourism cooperation areas together with joint advertising and promotion programmes, promotion of tradition heritage websites and sustainable handicraft manufacturing, classification and standardisation of tourism merchandise and services, product improvement, trade of knowledge, sustainable tourism improvement, tourism funding and collaboration in coaching of tourism personnel and capability constructing programmes for the international locations’ tourism sectors.
The 2 secretaries underscored the necessity for each international locations to work collectively to revive the tourism sectors and make up for alternatives and income misplaced on account of Covid-19.
With the deepening of tourism cooperation via the JTTC platform, relations between the 2 international locations are poised for development and the co-chairs dedicated to go away a constructive tourism legacy for future generations.
Ambassador Faranisi and Mr Simwaka reiterated the necessity for the technical officers from each international locations to right away begin implementing all of the agreed areas of cooperation in earnest and in accordance with recognized timeframes, and report progress made within the fourth JTTC assembly to be hosted by Zimbabwe subsequent 12 months.
The Zimbabwe delegation was led by Ambassador Faranisi and comprised of Authorities officers, parastatals and related stakeholders.
