By YVONNE CHATE –
THE National Heritage Conservation Commission has called on Government to prioritise marketing of tourism attractions located in rural areas so that investors can take development to chiefdoms.
National Heritage Conservation Commission executive director Collins Chipote said yesterday at the commemoration of Tourism Day under the theme Tourism and Community Development at Dag Hammarskjold memorial site in Ndola that marketing of tourism attractions in rural areas should be prioritised because it could lead to employment for the communities and alleviate poverty.
Mr Chipote said that it was in rural areas, where prime tourism attractions were and if properly marketed, it could bring meaningful change to the rural communities.
He said local communities should participate in tourism management by way of taking care of natural resources, tour guiding, promoting culture activities and trading in craft and hospitality businesses.
Copperbelt Province Minister Mwenya Musenge said the tourism industry could prosper if it engaged the local community in contributing to social values such as participation, education and enhanced local governance.
Mr Musenge said rural communities should consider getting involved in the industry as an alternative source of income and improved livelihood.
He said the Dag Hammarskjold site was a symbol of peace enjoyed even as the nation celebrated its Golden jubilee and urged Zambians to celebrate the peace.
Console General for the Democratic Republic of Congo Kanji Maloba said she was thankful that the Zambian Government had created a memorial site for the late United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold who died in a plane crash in 1961 in Zambia.
She said she believed in this year’s tourism theme because as a daughter of a chief, she understood the important role that rural communities played in tourism.
Ms Maloba donated US$3,000 to Dag Community School, while the Ministry of Tourism also donated books to the school.