AT THE

VIRTUAL MEETING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEE HELD UNDER THE THEME ‘‘HARNESSING DOMESTIC TOURISM IN TIMES OF PANDEMICS, A CASE OF THE COVID 19 PANDEMIC. THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS’

Let me begin by thanking Honourable Members for your active participation.  To the Secretary General of the SADC Parliamentary Forum, I commend you for convening this meeting.  May I also take this opportunity to extend my profound gratitude to our Resource Persons for taking time out of your busy schedules to be with us and share this invaluable information.

Hon Members we have learnt from the presentations that the recovery of the tourism sector in the SADC region is going to take long because of other equally important COVID induced challenges that Governments have to deal with.  Of utmost importance is for us to realise that this recovery will not happen without effort.  It is crucial that we devise new strategies and initiatives to support domestic tourism and reignite tourism in its entirety.  Among other things, there is need for more investments to be made in the tourism sector.  Our duty, therefore, is to ensure that we utilise this information that we have received today to lobby our respective countries for more funding towards the tourism sector.

Let me reiterate the fact this engagement has been very insightful and the information shared will definitely assist Honourable Members in respective countries to make legislative recommendations that can contribute to build sustainable tourism sectors.

Lastly, thank you all for your participation.

I thank you.

Closing Remarks - Standing Committee on FANR