ANDREW MUKOMA writes@sunzambian
THE Ministry of Tourism and Arts has this year, 2020 settled for the component of culture as the focus area to mark the World Tourism Day, which falls on September 27, 2020.
South West Regional Tourism Development Officer, Chilala Miyanda Habasimbi, said the region would see how best Tourism could contribute to rural development.She was speaking during the official launch of the Tourism Week as a build up to the main event.Ms Habasimbi said that the region had planned for seven languages to present aspects of their culture in the days leading up to World Tourism Day.She said that the main aim of this year’s celebration is to see how tourism can foster rural development which is in line with the theme; “Tourism and Rural Development.”“As a region, we have planned programs that will run up to the 27th September. We are going to have our seven local languages present the elements of culture into our tourism week because we want to see how best tourism can bring out rural development,” she said.Also speaking at the launch, Tonga Presentation representative, Fines Chidakwa, expressed confidence that if well defined, culture had the potential to contribute not only to rural development but also to economic development.Mr Chidakwa, a former Livingstone Mayor in the MMD regime, commended the Ministry for choosing culture as a key area for this year’s tourism week celebrations.
He added that dependency on foreign tourism should end while emphasizing that Zambian culture has many aspects that can be exposed.
