Benin signs US$1.2 million deal with World Bank and UNWTO to boost tourism

The Government of the Republic of Benin through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts, the World Bank and World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) have signed a 1.2 million agreement to help build the capacity of Benin’s tourism sector in the area of statistics and data.

In a virtual signing ceremony to announce the agreement, the Secretary General of UNWTO Zurab Pololikashvili and the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Jean-Michel Abimbola, were optimistic the project will help develop the tourism sector in Benin.

The project will specifically enable the West African country’s tourism sector develop a system for granting licenses and classification of tourism establishments and Tourism statistics and TSA.

The agreement is a major testimony of the importance of the tourism sector in the national development agenda of Benin especially in the current context triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic which has hit hard the travel and tourism sector.

The projects will be financed through a World Bank (WB) fund and implemented by UNWTO. Activities are foreseen to be implemented both through a combination of technical assistance combined with missions on the ground as and when possible.

This project aims to support the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Arts to update the system for granting licenses and classification of tourism establishments. The Project will include the following activities:

Review and draft new texts of licenses for tourism trades and activities.

Update the hotel classification system (the classification system and the classification criteria).

Develop IT platforms to facilitate the governance (i.e. all administrative procedures) of the licensing and hotel classification processes through a single window.