Senegal tourism ’in total paralysis’ due to Covid-19 pandemic
Despite the efforts made by the Senegalese state, the country's hotel
and tourism industry is still struggling to recover from the crisis
stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. The hotel and tourism industry is at the end of its tether.
The signals are red; the end of the tunnel is still far away.
“We are in a state of total paralysis with turnover divided by 10 for most of us. Not to mention those who have purely and simply closed their businesses because of the restrictions that are slowing down tourist activity,” said Mamadou Racine Sy, the president of the Federation of Hotel and Tourism Employers’ Organizations (FOPAHT).
Presiding on Monday in Dakar the regional forum on the impact of the pandemic on hotel and tourism enterprises in the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), Sy lamented that this sector has been “the most impacted (by Covid-19) with its trail of deaths, layoffs, closure of enterprises...” “The pandemic was on an unprecedented scale. An unprecedented level of violence has been inflicted on our sector,” he said, stressing that the impact is so considerable that it will take a few years to be able to measure it. “The pandemic was on an unprecedented scale. An unprecedented level of violence has been inflicted on our sector,” he said, stressing that the impact is so considerable that it will take a few years to be able to measure it.
Sy took the opportunity to denounce the “complex” of Africans in relation to the West.“In our countries, we are full of complexes. When it comes from abroad everyone applauds, when it comes from home, people criticize,” he said.
For the president of FOPAHT, it is necessary that we learn to visit the sites of our countries.
“As long as we do not have this awareness, this will to live together and to promote intra-African tourism, we will not go far. If we do not have this African nationalism, we will miss out,” Mr Sy concluded.
