According to the Minister of Tourism, Mr. Christophe Tchalo, the master plan developed by the government is something tangible and with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) it will easily work without any problem. According to the minister, UNDP will be expected to come in and contribute to the master plan as part of its support towards the government which should accelerate growth of the economy and at the same time provide more job opportunities.
When given an opportunity to speak during the launch of the master plan, the UNDP resident representative in Togo, Ms. Khardiata Lo N'Diaye insisted on the fact that tourism plays an important role in the economy of the country. According to her, this particular economic activity has a real potential of attracting more than 300,000 visitors and in the process generate an annual income of about US$40 million.
The first stage of the master plan, according to analysts will be unveiled by the United Nations World Tourism Organization in the next ten months and will involve a detailed analysis of the country's current tourism services which will then lead to the development and implementation of long term strategies.
For this particular master plan to work, the Togo government will require about US$450,000, an amount which will be contributed by all the parties involved i.e. the United Nations Development Programme which has promised to contribute US$319,000 and the Togolese government which has promised to contribute US$131,000. Hopefully, with the commencement of this particular project, Togo will be able to host about 1.6 billion international tourists annually.
