Thiès, April 28 (APS) – The Allou Kagne forest, located on the Thiès plateau (west), is full of important natural resources which can validly allow this forest ecosystem to be a potential “cradle of integrated tourism” in Senegal, said the president of the National Organization for the Integration of Senegalese Tourism (ONITS), Doudou Gnagna Diop.
“I had said here – I have been saying it for thirty years – that Allou Kagne, for example, can be a cradle of integrated tourism, because the landscape is made for that,” underlined Mr. Diop.
He spoke on Saturday as part of the celebration of 20 years of ONITS.
According to the tourist actor, the establishment in this area, located between Dakar and Thiès, of small hotel structures, would develop market gardening, transport, crafts, etc.
“Integrated tourism can be a center of attraction bringing together ten to fifteen inns and camps with one to fifty rooms,” he noted.
He insisted on the number of jobs that could be created, the “added value” that this would represent for young people, the creation of such installations, combined with “pockets of economic and social development”, in the main land resource which remains in the region.
“Such a choice has nothing to do with the option of transforming all of Allou Kagne into houses and apartments which will be sold to people from other localities,” he suggested.
On the job creation potential of tourism, Mr. Diop said that a small hotel structure in a rural area generates “at least 10 jobs”, particularly in catering, reception, swimming pool, or even cleaning.
He welcomed the grouping of tourism and crafts under the same supervision, in the new government nomenclature.
Diop sees a natural link between the idea of implementing integrated tourism in Allou Kagne and the vision of the new authorities for the tourism sector, recorded in the +Project+, the new framework of public authorities, to which he says he contributed to the design .
According to him, it is about sustainable tourism, ecotourism and responsible tourism.
“Ecotourism controls natural resources and creates a much more human tourism, reducing poverty especially in rural areas,” he said.
Doudou Gnagna Diop believes that we will have to “rethink”, integrated tourism, and “involve more other niches in the sector and the young social segment”.
this native of Thiès, owner of a reception in Ndianda, in the department of Mbour, invites the Senegalese to support the tourism sector to reduce unemployment, at least in rural areas.
Promising ONITS support for the State’s tourism policy, he advocates “pragmatism”, by implementing “concrete projects” thanks to the “undeniable assets” available to the region.
According to him, with an international airport accessible in 10 minutes, Thiès has significant assets that need to be further developed..
ONITS was created in 2004 to unite tourism stakeholders, pool their strengths and skills, in order to face the problems of the sector, which lacked financial resources and visibility.
The creation of an inter-regional tourism fair materialized with the holding, with Gambians, of four editions of the tourist event, “Mboka”, which took place in turn in Senegal and in Gambia.
The organization intends to resume this meeting, which experienced a downtime linked to the Ebola and Covid-19 pandemics, as well as political unrest.
ONITS, in the person of Doudou Gnagna Diop, represented Senegal, alongside four other countries, in the editorial committee of educational manuals, delivered in 2012 and taught in tourism training schools.
The organization of a cafe race, particularly for students in training, marked the celebration of ONITS’ 20th anniversary.
ADI/AB/ABB
