Sustainable Tourism Master Plan for the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Region -2013-2023
The Sustainable Tourism Master Plan (STMP) is guided by the aim, objectives and principles of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD). The main aim of the IGAD is to expand the areas of regional cooperation, increase the members’ dependency on one another and promote policies of peace and stability in the region in order to attain food security, sustainable environment management and sustainable development. The Master plan is further informed by the African Union (AU) Minimum Integration Programme (MIP), an instrument geared towards achieving the wider goal of the African Economic Community. In addition, the AU, through the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) 2004 Tourism Action Plan Africa recognises the important role that tourism can play in socio-economic development and poverty alleviation and that, through trans-boundary activities, it can be an effective vehicle for regional integration.
Importantly, the STMP is as a result of strong recommendations of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Sub-Regional Office for East Africa’s (SROEA) 15th Intergovernmental Committee of Experts (ICE) meeting themed, Towards a Sustainable Tourism Industry in East Africa, on the need for a regional framework for
tourism development in the region.
On the basis of the above backdrop, the main aim of the IGAD STMP is to provide member states with a regional framework for sustainable tourism development with a view to contribute to socio-economic development and poverty alleviation and to promote regional integration. More specifically the STMP seeks to: outline the importance of tourism development in the region; analyse in detail the prevailing scenario of tourism development; and to provide a detailed roadmap for the implementation of strategies and actions.
The STMP is further guided by the following underlying principles:
- a tourism development should be sustainable, providing both intergenerational
- and intra-generational equity;
- a the master plan should provide a vision for tourism development in the
- region; the master plan should enhance the competitiveness of the IGAD
- region as tourist destination;
- a tourism development strategies should be in line with the wider national,
- regional, continental and international development initiatives and
- economic development plans; and
- a tourism development should be guided by sound research.
