If there is one sector in Cameroon now that can at least boast of being ready for the upcoming African Cup of Nations scheduled to take place from January 2022 in the country, it is the tourism and leisure sector, according to officials.
This significant sector, placed under Cameroon’s Ministry of Tourism and Leisure, is headed by the dynamic Minister of State,Bello Bouba Maigairi.
The Minister and his collaborators have been working round the clock to ensure that the country’s tourist facilities and sites are added security and comfort to AFCON visitors. Selected hotels to host national teams, delegations and CAF officials have been upgraded to meet international standards and to conform to CAF requirements.. The Ministry for the past three years and after the Women AFCON has been building capacity of concerned personnel through trainings, seminars and workshops. Given that most of these hotels are privately owned, the role of the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure is to ensure quality service in the domains of reception, cleanliness and CAF conditions.
Twenty one four- and five-star hotels in the five host regions have been selected to lodge national teams and CAF delegations. Four hotels are ready in Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital. They are: Sawa Hotel, La Falaise, Akwa Palace Hotel and Palman Hotel. In Yaounde, the capital city five hotels have selected.
They are: Mont Febe, Yaounde Hilton Hotel, Hotel Franco, La Falais and Djeuga Palace Hotel.
In Bafoussam the chosen hotels are: Zingana, Hotel Valle de Bana, Bantou Hotel and Tagidor Garden Palace.
In Fako Division of the Southwest region four hotels are ready: Mountain Hotel, Parliamentary Flat Hotels in Buea. You have Atlantic Beach Hotel and Fini Hotel in Limbe
In the town of Garoua, AFCON delegations will lodge delegations in four hotels: Benoue, Hotel des Sport, Hotel des 70 and Hotel Librador.
Apart from ensuring that national teams and CAF are lodged in the best hotels that Cameroon can offer, the Ministry is also doing everything to ensure that the cities hosting the competitions have tourist and leisure sites ready.
As such the Ministry has embarked on an intensive control of leisure sites to see that hygiene and sanitation norms are respected.
In Garoua tourists can visit the Banks of River Benue, the Lagdo Dam, the Kola Rock at Guider and the Bouba Ndjida Park. At the Banks of River Benoue, it is possible for tourists to watch animals playing in the river. They can equally enjoy the agric production done in the Benue Valley. Along the river is a 200- person capacity restaurant built by the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure.
Away from the Benue is the Lagdo Dam. Here tourist visitors can visit the islands found at the dam where fishing activities and agric production are carried out. Also in Lagdo is recreational water resort centre. The Kolo Rocks shaped by running water are a major tourist attraction. At Bouba Ndjida Park, animals can been viewed from a distance.In the South West region, major attractive leisure sites include the Buea Mountain, the Atlantic Ocean, the Limbe Botanical Garden and the Kupe Manegumba twin lakes. Visitors can also go to the Bimbia Mangrove, the Bota Island and the CDC plantations.
Attractions in the West Region include the Dschang Climatic Centre, the Royal Palace of Foumban, the Djouttisa Tea Estate and the Pepternoun Hotel complex and Water Resort Centre put in place by the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure.
As for the Littoral Region, the offer in terms of touristic sites include the Douala Manga Bell, the Banks of River Wouri, the Ekonkan Falls , the Penja plantations, the Manoka Island and Lake Ossa.
While preparing these sites for visitors in the upcoming sport jamboree, the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure is also envisaging to use CAF most prestigious event as a framework to lay down the foundation for the promotion of domestic tourism.
This perspective is one of the new challenges imposed by the National Development Strategy 2020-2030. Given that the new reference framework for Cameroon’s development by 2035 is focused on developing, promoting and consuming the “Made in Cameroon” identified domestic tourism as factor of achieving this goal.
As such, the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure is expected to invite, educate and encourage Cameroonians, as well as anyone living in Cameroon to embrace Cameroonian products in terms of tourism and leisure.
Given that Cameroon offers a diversity of tourist assets that make it Africa in Miniature, it is hoped that Cameroonians will no longer spend alot of money discovering in other parts of the world what can be found at home.
With its reach human, cultural and ethnic diversity and variety, Cameroon possesses a multitude of natural landscapes, extended coast land, vast forest and Savana land favourable for all types of tourism. As such one can practice beach tourism, ecotourism, ornithological tourism, hunting tourism gastronomic tourism and go on safari just to name a few.
To achieve this daunting task,the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure through its sectoral participatory governance strategy wants to create a synergy of action with other administration and private actor. This synergy of actions will be geared towards the promotion of the consumption of Cameroon’s tourism potential.
Within this perspective, the Ministry seeks to accompany public and private partners in organizing excursions for their staff, provide expertise and technical assistance to Decentralized Local Authorities and draw up a policy geared towards constructing, developing and making operational leisure infrastructure such as tourist sites and amusement parks.
