By Amin Kef Sesay
Residents of Constituency 124, which is within the Leicester Road Community have heartily hailed the Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Dr. Memunatu Pratt for her kind donations offered before and on Saturday 23rd May, 2020.
The result-oriented Tourism Minister donated fifty bags of rice to various stakeholders including religious leaders, groups and other constituents in Constituency 124.
The kind gesture from the Minister on the eve of Prayday was one of the many gestures she has been rendering to Muslims in Freetown during the beginning of the Holy Month of Ramadan as well as in the last ten days of fasting.
It was noted that the donations of the Minister really cut across party lines and went even beyond Constituency 124 and were geared towards giving iftar to Muslims during the month of Ramadan.
Apart of the aforementioned donations of essential food items the Minister has been contributing towards the fight against the spread and prevention of coronavirus by donating preventive materials to various communities in the central district of Freetown.
Besides, the Minister donated Veronica Buckets and bars of soap as well as a megaphone during Ramadan to raise awareness and sensitize people about the dos and don’ts of the coronavirus in the country.
Constituents of Constituency 124 thanked the Minister for her humanitarian gesture and prayed that the Almighty God will protect her in all her endeavours.
In the last two years since His Excellency President Julius Maada Bio envisioned that the country’s tourism sector should become a pillar of the nation’s socio-economic development, a lot of work has been done by the current Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs to enhance tourism in partnership with its tourist promotion agency, the National Tourist Board.
The result showed quickly in the country’s tourist arrivals which were not more than 10, 000 in 2018 moving quickly up to over 100, 000 visitors by early 2020, with the sector contributing tens of millions of dollars to the national coffer.
In consolidating the gains made, the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs and Statistics Sierra Leone launched the National Tourism Census on Monday January 13, 2020 with the primary aim of placing the country’s tourism marketing in a very good position.
Funded by the Government of Sierra Leone, the Report would contribute to the advancement of tourism in the nation by providing real-time information on touristic resources around the country. After years in the doldrums, tourism in Sierra Leone has become the most dynamic and fastest growing industry. It is an aggregate of many different industries and services, and is influenced by almost every facet of society.
Sierra Leone expects economic and social benefits from tourism development such as: –Foreign exchange earnings, development of areas with no other immediate possibilities of expanding economic activity, creation of employment opportunities, boost for the local production of the goods and services consumed by the tourists, tax revenue for the State, integration of national cultures and societies and safeguarding of the national cultural identity from foreign culture influences, reasonable returns on investment in the sector, promotion of the true image of the country to attract holidaymakers and foreign entrepreneurs as part of the drive to step up international political and economic cooperation.
Other economic and social benefits to be expected include encouraging fair distribution of national income and creating new markets for consumer goods, providing additional infrastructure and amenities that will encourage and support the tourist industry as well as benefit local and national interests
It is in pursuit of these benefits that the Government of Sierra Leone identified tourism as a priority sector for development – thus tourism has now become the largest contributor to the economy of Sierra Leone after mining and agriculture.
