Malanje – At least 722 tour guides were trained by the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Angola (AJEA), from 2023 to the first half of this year, in the provinces of Benguela, Huíla, Uíge, Namibe and Cabinda.
This involves training in the areas of cataloging tourist sites, instruction on how to monitor and guide tourists, tourism protocol and technical language, aspects with which the trainees have the mission of assisting excursionists, mainly foreigners, on visits to tourist spots.
The information was given today by the AJEA Chairperson, Alfredo Cangonga Nguli, in an interview with ANGOP, about the results of the III National Forum of Entrepreneurial Techniques (FONTE), held by the Association over the last five days, in Malanje.
According to the source, this is a project that plans to add English and French languages, so that guides can interact without difficulties with foreign visitors.
He added that the training comes within the scope of the project “The young man wants, the young man does” and will expand to the 18 provinces of the country, with the forecast of training 15 thousand tourist guides, with the province of Malanje, benefiting in the 1st quarter of 2025, with more than 100.
The AJEA head specified that at this time, the project is being evaluated at the Tourism Promotion Institute (Infotur) and has institutional support from the Angola-Brazil Chamber of Commerce.
He stressed that in addition to facilitating tourist tours, the initiative aims to create conditions to encourage economic operators to invest in the tourism sector and attract visitors to all attractions in the country, with the aim of creating jobs and raising more revenue.
Alfredo Nguli called on the Executive to invest in public lighting along the roads connecting tourist attractions, improve roads and create public transport, with a view to enhancing and developing the sector.
He also defended the need to create tourist guides at the airport, ports, train stations and bus stations, so that day trippers can, upon arrival in the country, have an idea of the hotels, itineraries and other references.
Regarding the National Forum of Entrepreneurial Techniques (FONTE), he stated that the event allowed the exchange of experiences between entrepreneurs from Malanje, Luanda, Cuanza Norte, Lunda Norte, Benguela, Cabinda, Namibe, Huíla, Uíge and Cunene, as well as learning about the potential tourism of the host province.
The Forum had the participation of 32 young entrepreneurs and aimed to outline financing policies for businesses, as well as analyze the economic and social challenges of entrepreneurship in Angola.
AJEA has existed since 2018, and currently controls 8,200 members across the country.
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