BUJUMBURA January 24th (ABP) – Director General of Tourism Mr. Serges Nimubona calls on Burundians to adopt the culture of tourism in order to promote domestic tourism. He was speaking on Thursday January 20, 2022 in Bujumbura, during a press conference he hosted for the Burundian press.
Mr. Nimubona indicated that, compared to foreigners, the Burundian people do not have the spirit of tourism, as evidenced by the statistical data which shows that in 2019, 2,613,605 foreigners visited tourist sites while only 15,812 locals have visited those sites.
He informed that the National Tourist Office (ONT) has an awareness program for different target groups such as members of the government, senators and parliamentarians, different executives, schools but also private individuals, in order to stimulate them to consume that domestic tourism.
The situation presents itself in this way while Mr. Nimubona affirms the tourist sector is considered as the pillar of national development via the existing tourist sites in Burundi.
According to him, the government has expressed the will to be able to develop this sector through the official documents already validated in that case, the national strategy for the sustainable development of tourism, vision Burundi 20-25 and the national development program (PND).
Through these documents, he indicated, the government outlines how the tourism sector should be developed based on the eco-tourism potential that Burundi holds through the various tourist sites which are classified into three categories in particular, tourist sites historical sites, natural tourist sites and cultural tourist sites.
Faced with this potential, the government of Burundi has an obligation to put in place a policy for the development of tourism and the tourism sector, in order to generate real and realistic essential revenues for Burundi, he continued.
However, as indicated by the Director General of Tourism, the Burundian tourism sector is experiencing major challenges that plague it. Here he underlines, mainly the absence of a legal framework (absence of a law governing tourism), the overlapping of the various ministries in this case, the Ministry of the Interior, of intoxication in the management of the sites tourism, which is in a way a major constraint in the development of this sector.
Another challenge that, according to Mr. Nimubona, is related to the previous two, is related to the development of tourist sites, where he indicates that it is practically impossible to develop a tourist site that is in the hands of others.
The other challenge is at the level of the professionalization of the sector where there is the absence of assorted guides in the matter to be able to simulate and bring tourists to target the country. That challenge is due to the fact that Burundi does not have schools or departments in different universities, which can provide complete graduates at the level of guidance, he mentioned.