The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) says it is working toward attracting about 10 million intra-community tourists to the subregion annually by 2029.

ECOWAS Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Massandje Toure-Litse, disclosed this at a high-level capacity-building workshop in The Gambia on Tuesday.

The commissioner said in a statement that this was in line with ECOWAS’ commitment to leveraging tourism as the driver of economic growth.

Represented by the director of the private sector, Tony Elumelu, Ms Toure-Litse explained that the policy positioned West Africa as a preferred and competitive global tourism destination.

According to her, the renewed emphasis on tourism under the leadership of ECOWAS president Omar Touray is due to the recognition of tourism’s critical role in stimulating subregional economic growth.

She further said the objective was to provide ECOWAS citizens with a seamless and competitive tourism experience.

The commissioner said it aligned with the intentions of the ECOWAS ECOTOR policy, while the training was intended to address the identified capacity gaps in the sector for greater efficiency.

Ms Toure-Litse added that the policy and training would not address the twin issues of tourism standards and job creation, mainly for the subregion’s teeming youth and women population.

She said the policy also focused on hotel classification and staff mobility in line with the provisions of the region’s flagship Protocol on Free Movement through cooperation and standardisation.

“ECOWAS is paving the way for a more resilient, interconnected, and thriving tourism sector that will drive sustainable development and prosperity across the region by contributing a minimum of 12 per cent to the GDP of the member states.

“The ECOWAS regional ECOTOR policy seeks to promote an integrated tourism community, promote interstate tourism products, and improve the performance of the tourist private sector and competitiveness of the sector,” she said.

Speaking earlier, Sheikh Tejan Nyang, chairman, subregional project on hotel standardisation, lauded ECOWAS for choosing The Gambia for the training.

He said the implementation of the five-day training support for tourism operators was in recognition of the crucial role of tourism in the country’s economy.

Mr Nyang said the tourism sector was The Gambia’s highest foreign exchange earner, contributing about $85 million annually to the country’s economy.

According to him, this represents about 20 per cent of the country’s GDP and supports about 42,000 direct and 40,000 indirect jobs.

About 60 people engaged in the tourism sector are participating in the training programme.

(NAN)