The World Tourism Day 2021 - The Future of Abidjan Tourism

To recover from the pandemic, tourism is one of the key drivers of global growth. On Monday, September 27, in Abidjan for the World Tourism Day 2021 celebrations, this call was made by the over 1,500 participants, including government officials, representatives of international organizations, and the private sector who converged.

In fact, tourism is one of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic. It includes affection on incomes and millions of jobs worldwide.

Fortunately, with the help of vaccines, countries are beginning to ease restrictions on movement, lifting curbs on air travel and gradually restarting tourism in the process. It is like a light in the storm.

Reopening the sector remains a long way off in Africa because of shortage of vaccines has upended efforts to slow the pandemic.

"In a post-COVID context, this is the first time that the tourism world is getting together and it is on Ivorian soil. And this is all the more important for us, as we have been able to mobilize a little more than 122 countries attending here and remotely," said Siandou Fofana, Ivory Coast's minister for tourism and leisure.

Pololikashvili also hailed the richness and diversity of African culture and called on countries to market heritage as a tourist attraction.