Luanda — The minister of Culture and Tourism, Filipe Zau, on Tuesday in Luanda reiterated closer ties with operators of the culture sector to assess the quality of services provided, consider the qualification of professionals and agree on ideas for the future.

Filipe Zau, who was speaking at the closing ceremony of the World Tourism Day celebration gala, said this action would serve to leverage a vital sector for the diversification of the country's economy, as there is the need to establish a future strategic and inseparable relationship between tourism and culture and vice versa.

The minister pointed out that this year the motto "Rethink Tourism" led them to provide a set of meetings with operators and partners to draw, in a concerted manner, strategies for the establishment of appropriate policies for the development of the industry in Angola.

The minister spoke of the need to ensure a fair distribution of tourismbenefits to move forward in the transition of a resilient tourism industry, both as an important source of employment, and as an economic, social and cultural activity fundamental to the development in a sustainable context.

The head of the Angolan Hotels and Resorts Association (AHRA), Ramiro Barreira, on his turn, said his association wants to contribute four percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the next five years, against the current 0.5 percent.

Barreira mentioned that the AHRA intends to create 500,000 direct jobs and a million indirect jobs, which will allow them to have an income of 6 billion dollars, which would represent a higher percentage in the GDP.

For this, Barreira said there is the need to have a good business environment and the creation of policies so that hotels have clients and can achieve the desired goals.

He recalled that there are at least 234 hotels in the country, 1600 lodges and 6000 restaurants, among other similar places.