Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio has launched the Safety Net Support to employees in the Tourism and Hospitality sectors following the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak with Four Billion Eight Hundred and Eighty Three Million, Eight Hundred and Forty Thousand Leones (Le 4,883,840,000.00).
The launched which took place at the Radisson Blu hotel Aberdeen, in Freetown yesterday 13th August was organized by the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and also saw the presentation of ceremonial cheque to the Tourism Minister by President Bio.
Before launching the Safety Net, President Bio in his view spoke about the half full glass which he said they are making progress in just two year because his government believed that the tourism sector is critical to the nation’s development that is why they are there to support the sector.
He challenged his audience to build upon the optimism which they expressed in the New Direction Manifesto as they can make tourism a key growth sector in the nation’s economy and as a government that do what they say, that is the reason they are supporting the sector.
He went on to say they can create revenue from the cultural and historical places in the country, adding that with the support of the World Bank they are developing a strategic development master plan, a national tourism marketing strategy and island tourism development policy, a tourism and wild life policy and accommodation standard and classification manual and investment specification among other initiatives.
He emphasized that the nation is at peace and spoke about the elimination of GST on Air fares and the implementation of Visa on Arrival as part of their international partner’s laudable effort.
He said tourists’ arrival has gone up by 40% with one hundred and seven thousand arrivals and tourists spend sixty three million United States Dollars in the Sierra Leone economy over the last one year.
“When I say the glass is half full I want us to celebrate the great success we had in just two short years.”
The recurrent impact on the hotel sector has been greatly affected. The social safety of the cap program will protect the most vulnerable and most affected in our community and soften the impact on our people.
Base on the date collected, the president announced the said amount to the hospitality sector as a social safety net they support. The safety net is meant for those who registered during the data collection and every person will get one million, eight hundred thousand Leones (Le1.8 Million) for three months as compensation package that will serve 2363 workers in the hospitality sector.
He warned that the Safety Net should be distributed equally to every Sierra Leoneans that registered in respective of region, ethnicity and gender.
Minister of Finance Jacob Jusu Saffa spoke about the different used of the Safety Net which also covered the school bus, school feeding program and increment in Pension payment among others.
He added that the agenda of President Bio is human capital development.
He said that the tourism and hospitality sector is the hardest hit in the Covid-19 pandemic and they as ministry provided all what required.
He thanked the Tourism Ministry and the President for the initiative and hope other category may be included.
Minister of Tourism and Cultural Affairs Dr. Memumatu Pratt extended her commendation and gratitude to President Bio in his transformation drive of the tourism sector.
She also spoke about the damaged done by Covid-19 on the tourism and hospitality globally and expressed recovery plan from the pandemic.
The Minister disclosed that 400 businesses are in the hospitality industry in Sierra Leone. She explained the constrains they went through to get the data from the hotels and tourism association who helped to provide the data through the National Tourism Board.
Jonnie Shallop President of the Hotels Association expressed thanks and appreciation to the president for considering the hotels and hospitality sector during this time.
By Ibrahim Joenal Sesay
