Tourism ministry training controllers to boost output.

A seminar in this light opened in Yaounde yesterday. Officials said the training is aimed at boosting the tourism and leisure sector in the country.

The Secretary General in the Ministry of Tourism, Ndioro a Mamoum Marcel Paul, launched the seminar. He said the goal is to boost the tourism and leisure sector which is one of the nation’s 2035 emergence drivers.

According to the Secretary General who represented the Minister of State, Minister of Tourism and Leisure, Bello Bouba Maigari, it is imperative for inspectors to be abreast with regulatory guidelines.

“They need all the necessary control tools to be able to have quality control which will permit them to attract different tourists and clients,” Ndioro a Mamoum said. 

The SG said “…inspection is a task that needs a high level of attention from controllers, including a mastery of the technical aspects involving equipment”.

The Head of Communication Unit of the Ministry, Peter Kuma Kombain, said the training will boost staff capacity on new methods in controlling tourism and leisure services.

“The different controllers are going to acquire more skills that will permit them better control clandestine and even authorised structures, be they night clubs, hotels and leisure facilities,” Kuma reiterated.

He maintained that the activity is in line with government’s National Development Strategy, SND30.

A participant, Sadat Abdalla, said the training “will help me to know how to let the different promoters I encounter and understand the new philosophy in the sector”.

Those on the field, Sadat noted, are facing challenges from actors relating to the functioning of facilities like hotels, restaurants and snack bars. On this note, Sadat said the training would clarify stakeholders on who does what.

Multiple development-oriented projects 

To note that the seminar is one of the first capacity-building workshops organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure since a decree of the Prime Minister, Head of Government three years ago instituted the modernisation of the sector.

In January this year, the Ministry organised a conference for centralised and the decentralised services under the theme: “The harmonisation of administrative and legal procedures; an innovative challenge in the process of decentralisation”. Then, new directives were handed to boost output.

During the January conference, authorities of the Ministry had promised to ensure that the tourism and leisure sector in Cameroon contributes to national development.