In June 2019, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) adopted the ECOTOUR Regional Tourism Policy and 2019-2029 Action Plan. It includes an overall assessment of the tourism situation, strategic priorities, a list of objectives and an implementation programme.

ECOTOUR emphasizes local development, creating skilled and unskilled jobs, and local communities as guardians and beneficiaries of natural and cultural resources. Despite the COVID-19 outbreak, these remain valid objectives.

ECOTOUR Opportunities and Challenges

• Unlike a national tourism strategy, ECOTOUR encourages integrated aviation and ground transport networks, and the free movement of people and goods within ECOWAS.
• ECOTOUR seeks to facilitate economies of scale, with respect to lowering transport costs, developing tourism and hospitality training centres and upgrading sector specific professional skills and standards, as well as engendering the widespread use of digital technology.
• The ECOTOUR 2019-2029 Action Plan includes five programmes for implementation, with a total of 39 priority actions organised into annual stages, as well as detailed mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation. Actual implementation levels and country-level implementation plans for the five programmes and their priority actions, however, as yet remain unreported.
• Overall, the most urgent need is for financing: ECOTOUR lists only potential funding sources, with total costs estimated at US$371 million. WATO has some ideas for funding opportunities, but that there is a need for a collaborative approach that will show cohesion between ECOWAS member states, which will facilitate the funding bid process.

Call to Action:
We have selected 3 key priority areas to focus on to start the process of implementing the ECOTOUR vision. We ask each and everyone of you to ascribe to at least one of these as a start to show your commitment to making West Africa a better place to live, and a better place to
visit.

1. Protecting Biodiversity
   A concerted biodiversity protection strategy can provide a pathway to prevent future pandemics, mitigate the impacts of climate change, and provide livelihoods to local communities through sustainable natural resource management and ecotourism development.
   When approving ECOTOUR, tourism ministers specifically called for ecotourism programmes to benefit vulnerable populations and to protect important species of flora & fauna. West Africa hosts one of Africa’s eight global biodiversity hotspots; 
   ï‚· The Guinean Forests cover areas found in 11 countries across West and Central Africa.
   ï‚· The Upper Guinean Forests spread across seven ECOWAS member states.
   ï‚· There are also significant swathes of mangroves on West Africa’s coasts, which are important for the regulation of coastal erosion and carbon dioxide storage.
   In these natural areas, at least 936 species of plants and animals are in danger or on the brink of extinction. This number is likely to increase as more species are assessed. If you are proud of your natural heritage and want to see it thrive for years to come, then this is the priority area you will want to sign up for!
2. Data Collection
   To manage a tourism destination efficiently and effectively, data collection, analysis and reporting are essential parts of a tourism management agency’s toolkit. Robust data analysis can enable a destination to plan better and make the right decisions, which can lead to a prosperous and sustainable tourism industry.

Unfortunately, for 2019 data, only 4 out of 17 West African countries update their tourism statistics for the UNWTO regularly, and in time for the annual Barometer to be published. We find that there are blockages in the processes of the data being collected, transferred to the relevant government agency, analyzed and then reported.
The challenge is to find these blockages and address them efficiently by streamlining the process. Our belief is that West African nations can be the best in the world at data collection, analysis and reporting. We hope you believe this, too!
If you want your country to have good data collection, analysis and reporting systems in place to enable improved tourism planning and decision making, then this is the priority area you will want to sign up for!

1. Domestic and regional tourism development
   COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the global tourism industry. The UNWTO estimates that there will be a 60% to 80% loss in tourist receipts by the end of 2020. According to crisis management experts, international tourism will not recover before the end of 2022, beginning of 2023. Therefore, if we want to keep tourism going for the foreseeable future, we need to develop our countries’ tourism with local and regional customers in mind.
   There is no one size fits all. Each country in West Africa must develop their own strategy to stimulate the growth of their domestic and regional tourism markets; but there are also opportunities for neighboring countries to work together to create multi-destination packages that appeal to their citizens in need of a holiday.
   In the age of COVID-19, if tourism is going to survive in West Africa, public and private sector stakeholders need to work hand-in-hand, to promote the development of demand-led tourism products and marketing strategies that enable local tourism growth.
   If you cannot bear the thought of losing your tourism industry, and want to be a champion for the survival of small and medium enterprises that depend on tourism, then this is the priority
   area you will want to sign up for!

1 Adapted from Honeck, D. and K. Kampel (2020), West Africa’s (eco)tourism initiative: Last chance to protect African biodiversity, Trade for Development News, Enhanced Integrated Framework
(https://trade4devnews.enhancedif.org/en/op-ed/west-africas-ecotourism-initiative-lastchance-protect-african-biodiversity).

You can Download ECOWAS Regional Tourism Policy & Action Plan 2019-2029 in your preferred language.