By Foday Moriba Conteh
The launching of a domestic tourism campaign on the theme “Explore Freedom…Bringing Tourism to our Doorsteps” by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs and the National Tourist Board (NTB) took place on the 19th November 2021 at the Ministry’s Conference Hall, Kingharman Road, Freetown.
Explaining the rationale behind the launch of the domestic tourism campaign, the General Manager of the National Tourist Board, Fatmata Hamid Carew said both the Ministry and the Board are keen to driving the agenda of domestic Tourism. She noticed that lot of Sierra Leoneans are not aware of the huge tourism potentials that Sierra Leone possesses and also not aware that the activities they are engaged in is what is referred to as domestic tourism.
She stated that the concept of domestic tourism involves people going to places, tourist attractions, to spend their time and money. The General Manager added that the purpose of driving domestic tourism is for Sierra Leoneans to be aware that those places, especially touristic attraction sites should be protected; hence they will be engaged in lot of domestic tourism awareness programmes.
The Consultant for the promotion of Domestic Tourism, Desmond Benya, presented the domestic tourism campaign which he said will portray the image of Sierra Leone as a wonderful touristic destination.
Dr. Memunatu Pratt, Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, while launching the campaign intimated that the domestic tourism campaign will connect what people are doing to what they should do that will broaden their understanding about domestic tourism, thereby improving the sector.
She furthered that to intensify the campaign in order for people to become aware, our traditional media, jingles and all social platforms will be utilized to increase the consciousness of people on domestic tourism.
She revealed that a lot of roads leading to tourists sites across the country are being constructed and that the security apparatus is supporting the sector in terms of ensuring the safety and security of people, plus a special training for the security sector is on the pipeline.
The Minister also disclosed that there are ongoing skills development trainings to boost the capacity of the sector.
She concluded by calling on all and sundry to embrace domestic tourism saying it is the future of Sierra Leone.
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