Abuja, Nigeria// — The ECOWAS Commission has launched a four-day technical meeting on July 8, 2025, in Cotonou, Benin. This meeting brings together experts from Member States to examine six draft classification standards for tourist accommodation establishments.
The standards, drawn up based on various workshops organised as part of the ECOWAS tourism policy (ECOTOUR), concern hotels, motels, inns, ecolodges, aparthotels and holiday villages. The private sector and industry directorates jointly organise the event.
In her opening speech, the Commissioner for Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Mrs Massandje Toure-Litse, represented by the Director of the Private Sector, Dr Tony Luka Elumelu, recalled ECOWAS’s ambition to make tourism a major lever for economic development and regional integration.
She affirmed that the region is striving to build a flourishing tourism industry, drawing on international best practice adapted to the West African context, to make it a world tourist destination of choice.
She emphasised that this strategy is based on five closely linked pillars: strengthening infrastructure, including investment in transport, accommodation and tourist attractions; relaxing regional visa policies for third-country nationals to improve accessibility, streamline procedures and foster greater people-to-people diplomacy; the harmonisation of sectoral standards and regulations to facilitate travel, trade and enhance the overall tourism experience; the promotion of sustainable tourism practices that ensure an environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically viable industry; and collaboration and partnerships between stakeholders in the sector to pool expertise, share knowledge and develop effective solutions to common challenges.
She stressed the importance of implementing a coherent, collaborative and sustainable approach to tourism to stimulate national economies, strengthen cultural exchanges and ensure the sustainability of the sector.
In reaffirming the Commission’s commitment to responsible tourism practices, she emphasised the need to minimise the negative impacts of tourism on the environment, local cultures and host communities, and stressed the importance of implementing a coherent, collaborative and sustainable approach to tourism to stimulate national economies, strengthen cultural exchanges and ensure the sustainability of the sector. In reaffirming the Commission’s commitment to responsible tourism practices, she emphasised the need to minimise the negative impacts of tourism on the environment, local cultures and host communities.
The Director General of the Standards Agency of the Republic of Benin, Mohamed Nazif El-Hadji Alassane, representing Benin’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Mrs Alimatou Shadiya Assouman, welcomed ECOWAS’ efforts to harmonise standards and regulations in the tourism sector. He stressed that this will help to transform the region into a single tourism market, while boosting tourism, employment and public revenue, with positive spin-offs for the economies of Member States.
