The Ministry of Tourism and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) signed, on Tuesday in Tunis, an agreement on a project to promote Saharan tourism in the regions of Tozeur and Kebili (southern Tunisia) and aimed essentially at attracting more Japanese tourists to Tunisia.
The project, which was initiated and funded by JICA with an investment of about 5.4 million dinars, will be launched, according to a statement from the Ministry of Tourism, during this month (October 2012) and will run 3 years.
The project will also help Tunisia develop a marketing and communication strategy in southern regions of Tunisia to promote and advertise tourism products and natural resources in these regions.
It also involves setting up a cooperation mechanism based on public / private partnership for the implementation of action plans, strategies and activities of concrete promotion.
A joint coordinating committee, composed of representatives of tourism structures and JICA will be created in this context and will meet on a periodic basis in Tunis, said the ministry statement.
The project agreement was signed by Minister of Tourism Elyes Fakhfakh and permanent Director General of JICA in Tunis. “The project will be a great contribution to the promotion of Saharan tourism in Tozeur and Kebili,” said Mr. Fakhfakh.
The Director General of JICA said at the signing ceremony of the project, this project will be presented at the next International Conference on African Development, to be held in 2013 in Tokyo as a model of North-South cooperation. “It will provide jobs and remove regional disparities,” he further said.
