WHITE PAPER
FOCUS AREA 2: Setting out a collaborative framework for the reopening of continental borders for business events travel and tourism and its impact on the tourism supply chain. i) Ensure greater cooperation and collaboration Regional integration and cooperation is vital for the development of Africa in all sectors. According to the African Development Bank Group, countries on the continent, in order to support and promote intra-African trade require the creation of larger and more attractive markets which would facilitate linkages with the smaller landlocked countries including those in fragile situations to their international counterparts. These linkages will facilitate their participation and beneficiation from the increasingly connected global marketplace. The continent’s growing population, especially the middle class and youth, provides a potential target market for these goods and services. The success of this rests on availability of infrastructure,
appropriate skills, policies and leadership that advocate for better opportunities for all. The key tourism stakeholders note the importance of African countries to work in a more integrated way. This can be ensured by carefully adjusting the policies that enhance economic growth among countries. The World Economic Forum (WEF) stresses the need for African countries to work together in different ways such as efforts to address trade obstacles as well as promotion of peace and stability. According to the African Tourism Board (ATB), integration among African countries would enable the sector to operate in a better way whereby African governments come together as a block and assess the trends, and impact of the pandemic and develop their own collective recovery models that will then interpret the recovery emergencies that will then form the base-pillars of mitigating the economy impact of the pandemic. One area of collaboration should see countries working together with their neighbours to determine whether they arrive at workable solutions or protocols which could facilitate inter-regional travel and inter-destination travel. According to the African Development Bank, a borderless Africa is a foundation for viable continental trade
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