Ministry of Tourism: “30 Billion Dinars Losses Per Month In The Sector Due To Corona Virus”

The Director General of Tourism at the Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts and family work, Moussa Ben Tamer, revealed that the Corona virus pandemic is causing monthly losses estimated at 30 billion dinars in the national tourism sector.

The participants in a symposium on “Sciences at the service of Tourism and Travel” stressed, on Saturday in Algiers, the imperative improvement of the level of training through the reinforcement of scientific research in order to reach professionalism in the field of tourism and travel activity and to make this activity a lever of sustainable development.

The participants in this symposium, organized by the National Higher School of Tourism (ENST) and the National Association of Travel Agents (ANAV), have underlined, in this sense, the importance of the exchange of experiences and expertise with all the specialists and experts in the field of tourism and travel in order to raise the level of training and acquisition of knowledge and to improve the services in response to the expectations of the customers.

The Director General of Tourism at the Ministry of Tourism, Handicraft and Family Work, Moussa Ben Tamer, has put forward the importance of such a meeting for “the exchange of ideas and experiences on the importance of integrating scientific training in the field of tourism and travel in order to achieve professionalism in the relationship with the customers and to adapt the services to the standards in force.

He recalled, in this context, the message of the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune, on the occasion of the celebration of the Day of Knowledge (April 16), in favour of the promotion of knowledge in the field of training in order to build the new Algeria and to improve the non-hydrocarbons economy, by giving importance to vital sectors such as tourism.

For his part, the Director General of the ENST, Abdelkayoum Ladraa, has put forward “the unceasing efforts made by the students of the School, in particular the graduates organized within the ANAV to consolidate the knowledge and science in the field of Tourism and Travel in order to reach the professionalism as regards services and relations with the customers, and to succeed in creating a tourist destination par excellence.

Taking the floor, in the framework of this meeting, the first of its kind between the two parties, the president of the National Association of Travel Agencies, Bordji Mohamed Amine has evoked the challenges which the tourist agencies are facing because of the spread of the Coronavirus which induced a suspension of their commercial activities, calling the concerned authorities to “an accompaniment and an assistance to smooth out the encountered obstacles”.

He mentioned, in this regard, “a study carried out with the participation of more than 105 agencies out of a total of 800 operating in the Hajj and Umrah niche to determine the main obstacles they face and formulate proposals to find remedial solutions.