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Sierra Leone’s Hon. Consul General in Austria Dr. Wolfgang
Breitenthaler
made
initial contacts and arrangements for the official visit of
the Ambassador of Sierra Leone to the Federal Republic of
Austria and Germany, who is also the Permanent
Representative to the United Nations Organisations in Vienna
Austria, H.E Jongopie Siaka Stevens, who has engaged the
most prominent tourism school in Bad Gleichenberg—Austria, to
further promote the tourism industry in Sierra Leone.
With the aim of
exploring possible areas of cooperation and support from the school of
tourism in Austria, Ambassador Stevens acknowledged that tourism is a
catalyst for sustainable economic growth. He noted that Sierra Leone
is richly blessed with both natural and material resources that can be
utilised to aid economic transformation.
Addressing
heads of the school including the Mayor of Bad Gleichenberg shortly
before the signing of a Letter of Intent to foster bilateral
cooperation in the tourism sector, Ambassador Stevens informed about the
country’s huge economic potentials available in the tourism industry.
This includes but not restricted to creating jobs, driving economic
growth and advancing development.
He further
emphasised that Sierra Leone will benefit enormously from tourism if
more investment is made within the sector. It is against this background
that he called on the school in Bad Gleichenberg for their partnership
and cooperation to boost the tourism sector in Sierra Leone.
The Ambassador
reiterated the country’s recovery process with emphasis on
agriculture, health and tourism. He believed that the aforementioned
sectors are influential in the country’s socio-economic development
process.
As part of the
recovery process, Ambassador Stevens pointed out that Sierra Leone is
currently rebranding its tourism sector and added that business is
thriving gradually while construction of new hotels are ongoing to
attract more visitors in the country.
Responding, the
Director of the Bad Gleichenberg School of Tourism, Mr. Wolfgang Haas,
thanked Hon. Consul General Dr. Wolfgang Breitenthaler for his
initiative to bring together the Tourism College of Bad Gleichenberg and
the Government of Sierra Leone in person of H.E. Ambassador Stevens
and expressed willingness to cooperate with Sierra Leone in providing
scholarship and financial grants to Sierra Leone students opting to
pursue a career in tourism.
He disclosed
that Sierra Leone will further receive support in establishing a tourism
school in the country including training of teachers from Sierra Leone
in Bad Gleichenberg.
The tourism school in
Bad Gleichenberg is among the world’s best and offers excellent
qualifications to start an outstanding career in tourism.
Established in 1946, the school is internationally known as the private
education centre for tourism. It also offers subjects relating to
general education, economics as well as communications and foreign
Languages.
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