The Minister of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and Acting Minister of Tourism, Trade and Industry, Agio Pereira, met on 27 May 2019 at the Government Palace with Macmillan Anyanwu, World Bank Representative for Timor-Leste and his delegation to discuss tourism development in Timor-Leste.
The main objective of the meeting was to prepare an integrated tourism development strategy with a market-based approach to better plan and manage expenditure. This approach sets to define priorities according to a clear understanding of the country’s position in the tourism market, in order to differentiate Timor-Leste from other competitors.
Thus, it will be possible to capitalize on the potential that the country offers, overcome the challenges and difficulties that exist and guarantee a consolidated and sustainable development.
The diversification of the national economy is one of the significant objectives of the Eight Constitutional Government, which details in its program a set of measures aimed at strengthening the private sector, territorial cohesion and the emergence of different poles of development capable of boosting national development. In this sense, tourism is one of the essential industries (along with agriculture and oil) in which the Government is focusing on national development, taking advantage in particular of the natural, geographical or cultural potential of the country, so as to reduce dependence on oil revenues.
This tourism development strategy is based on four main steps: market analysis, calculation of the economic benefits of tourism spending, estimation of public investment costs and comparison of costs and benefits, as well as a calculation of the rate of return.
To ensure the success of this strategy, the Government will work on institutional development and promote multi-stakeholder dialogue, including local communities, to achieve national tourism targets and will undertake integrated planning for the identification of priority and strategic areas through participatory processes, which include strategies for the management and preservation of natural and cultural resources. It also aims to increase the professionalism of human resources, encourage tourism entrepreneurship, develop skills and promote the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises in targeted communities. It also aims to develop infrastructures for strategic destinations and tourism products, to guarantee access to these places based on a range of technical concerns as well as environmental and social impacts.