The International Trade Centre (ITC) announced
today the development of four projects to connect small- and medium-sized
enterprises in least developed countries (LDCs) to the tourism industry. The
pilot projects are the outcomes of ITC’s World Export Development Forum (WEDF),
held 10 – 11 May 2011 within the framework of the Fourth United Nations
Conference on Least Developed Countries in Istanbul, Turkey.
‘What our research before the event and
interactions during it have shown us is that there is definite interest in
exploring opportunities in LDCs,’ said Mrs. Patricia Francis, Executive
Director of ITC. ‘What we need to do to achieve the investments that we want is
to think differently about how we do things. Policymakers, private-sector
investors, and community players all must be involved to create the right kind
of framework to have the right kind of investment.’
Four pilot projects were discussed at WEDF and will
now be further developed in-country and validated by local stakeholders. This
will take place with a view to producing bankable project documents and
commitments from implementing partners.
The four
projects cover:
- Engaging women
vendors in the tourism value chain. ITC’s Women and Trade programme currently
works towards bringing together corporate buyers and women sellers. ITC will work
with the Platform for Action on Sourcing from Women Vendors in this tourism-related
project to investigate further ways to more fully involve women in the tourism
value chain.
- Connecting farmers
producing fresh fruit and vegetables to commercial agro-industry operations in
the tourism sector. This project focuses on Tanzania and will further examine
the most successful methods being used in other countries to empower farmers
and create a connection to tourism businesses.
- Inclusive tourism as
a market opportunity for the developing world within which there are two
projects: cultural heritage in Ethiopia and trade development for
micro-artisans and artists in Uganda.
- Managing tourism
after a crisis. This project concludes with the development of a guidebook, led
by the World Tourism Organization, UNWTO, to provide advice to LDCs on how to
recover tourism after a crisis.
ITC
will work with relevant partners in all countries to further research and
develop the pilot projects. The aim is for local private and public sector
partners in the countries to eventually take over leadership of the projects.
ITC
is working with nine other UN agencies and other partners to create a toolkit that
explores how countries can better interact with international organizations for
tourism development.
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