Cameroon: Tourism Promotion – Sustained Effort

Richard Kwang Kometa

22 June 2011

In 2010, Cameroon attained the 500,000 target of tourists visiting the country within a year as required by the World Tourism Organisation.

Thus, Cameroon has now become a tourist destination. It is therefore time to communicate on that good figure and let the world know that people can visit Cameroon and there will be much to see.

In line with this, the Ministry of Tourism on June 20, 2011 began a five-day workshop for journalists to make them understand the tenets of the sector and pass on the message to the public about what can be seen in the country. The initiative to involve journalists in the process of marketing Cameroon is also laudable. But looking at the media landscape in the country, this would hardly be enough to make tourists visit Cameroon and want to come back. President Paul Biya once said that it is not only good to invite people to visit the country, but it is also far better to make them accept to come back after visiting once.

As such, one can imagine that the current move by tourism officials is an additional step in the process of developing a consistent tourist guide for the country. For instance, tourists arriving in Cameroon should be able to receive brochures and flyers at the airport, telling them of the areas to visit in the country and how to get to such localities. It would even mean telling them honestly what surprises to expect, so that they should be able to willingly make the choice to continue the journey or not.

Moreover, the next step that the officials must target should be attitudes that leave weird memories in visitors once they set foot on Cameroonian soil. Harassment of all sorts, lack of ethical values, immorality and cruel absence of courtesy, are just examples of the undesirable habits that need to be weeded out of our national character to be able to sustain the number of tourists who come into the country. Their return would in itself be an added incentive to encourage others to join, thereby increasing the current number.

Invariably therefore, marketing the country must not only be a constant reality, but also a collective responsibility whereby Cameroonians themselves try to know their country by travelling. It may be easy here for people to say that they lack the means to do so. But again, there is no gainsaying that even those who can afford such trips hardly think that the first destination to visit is Cameroon. They prefer to travel abroad, irrespective of the cost.

As journalists receive lessons on how to spread the good news about the tourist attractions in the country, it would be indispensable that a more coherent strategy be put in place on a permanent basis for Cameroon to make the required gains from the tourism industry. Nations that hardly boast of the potentials of Cameroon have had huge contributions to their Gross Domestic Products coming from tourists. Yet, those who take the courage to visit Cameroon often go back wondering why so much indifference towards such fascinating attractions.

With the growing level of globalisation, just any persons can communicate across the globe. And in situations where everybody is not made to realise the importance of marketing their own values, it would be difficult to create a lasting impact. That is why the determination to transform the tourism sector in Cameroon must be seen as a collective responsibility.

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