Luanda — The secretary of State for Tourism, Paulino Baptista, Wednesday in Luanda mentioned training as the basis for the implementation of the strategy to reach the tourist development goals in Angola, the reason why the ministry will continue to invest in this segment.

The minister was speaking at the closing of the course of Management of Tourist Destinations designed for more than 60 staff of the sector.

He said on the occasion that through training the Government will attain the goals it has outlined, with stress to reaching one million jobs in activities of the sector.

He mentioned that the Government has set as its goals to reach Akz 470 billion of revenues in the tourism sector in the coming 10 years and a three percent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, and record 4.6 million tourists.

On the other hand, Paulino Baptista thanked the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for its support for tourism in Angola, including the work related to the Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) ) project that links five countries of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), with the purpose of transforming shared areas into an international tourist reference zone.

The secretary of State described the above mentioned project as a lever for integration, peace and solidarity among the countries involved, namely Angola, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Sponsored by the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism, together with UNDP and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development, the course of Management of Tourist Destinations, lasted three days and was attended by the directors of the Kalandula, Kavango and Cabo Ledo tourism projects, provincial directors and heads of department.